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scHobL 



WORD STUDY IN THE 

ELEMENTARY 

SCHOOL 



By JOSEPH S. TAYLOR, Pd.D. 

DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, NEW YORK CITY 

Author of "Art of Class Management and Discipline," and 

"Composition in the Elementary School" 



EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

BOSTON 

New York Chicago San Francisco 



r 



Copyright, 191 o 

BY 

EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 



vj Q r 



g.Cl.A25Q7c5 5 



Preface 

Polonius — What do you read, my lord ? 
Hamlet — Words, words, words. — Shakespeare 

The author of this book believes that a good ele- 
mentary school in our land is known chiefly by the kind 
of English that is used therein. If the pupils read 
with fluency and proper appreciation books possessing 
worthy content, and speak and write their mother 
tongue with accuracy, clearness, and force, the school, 
no matter how humble its estate, or how numerous 
its short -comings, has not labored in vain. On the 
other hand, no matter how excellent may be the 
equipment, how elaborate the course of study, no 
school can lay claim to a high rank which neglects 
the all -important matter of expression. 

The study of language is largely a study of words. 
The word is the first object of study presented to the 
child when he enters school; and there never is a 
time from that day until the day of graduation when 
the word ceases to occupy his attention. So impor- 
tant an element of education deserves our most care- 
ful consideration. The following chapters embody 
the author's effort to gather up the various phases of 



li PREFACE 

word study, which are usually presented in isolated 
fashion, into a single volume. 

It has been well said that '^the thought in the thing 
and the law in the mind determine the method.'' 
In this book the method advocated is in every instance 
based upon ^'the thought in the thing" and "the law 
in the mind. " The nature of the word, in its forma- 
tion, spelling, and meaning, is considered from the 
point of view of the history of the English language. 
The act of spelling as a mental process is analyzed by 
scientific methods. The way the child puts meaning 
into words is investigated in the same way. On the 
facts thus learned are based a series of inferences in 
the form of propositions constituting Chapter IV. 
Upon these inferences, which are the raw material of 
method, the author has built all his elaborations con- 
tained in subsequent chapters on methods and devices 
of teaching the spelling, meaning, formation, and use 
of words. 

It is believed that this work is the only attempt that 
has ever been made to collect all the available scien- 
tific material on word-study into a single body of 
assorted knowledge and suggestion. The partial 
bibliography given in Chapter IX shows that most 
of the matter here summarized is scattered in periodi- 
cal publications, some of which are accessible to 
only the most favored teachers. Special attention is 



PREFACE 



111 



invited to the two chapters on method (V and VII). 
These are the most practical parts of the subject, 
although their full import can not be comprehended 
without a careful study of the preceding chapters. 
Chapter VI., which treats of the meaning and use of 
words, is probably one of the most useful phases of 
the discussion, because it treats in a comprehensive 
way a topic that is little understood by teachers and 
is sadly neglected. 

For convenience of references, a ''summary" is 
provided in Chapter IX, showing at a glance the 
various forms of word study that should be carried 
on in the several grades, and offering an alphabetical 
list of prefixes, suffixes, and stems suitable for study 
in the elementary school. 

Joseph S. Taylor 
New York, June 14, 1909. 



Table of Contents 

I The Scope of Word Study 

1 Pronunciation 

(i) Articulation 

(a) Imitation 

(&) Phonic Analysis 

(c) Errors due to Defective Organisms 

(A) Stammering 

(B) Lisping 

(2) Accent 

(3) Diacritical Marks . 

2 Capitalization 

3 Abbreviations and Contractions 

4 Compounds, Plurals, and Possessives 



II The Nature and Value of Spelling 

1 Where to Begin Spelling . 

2 The Origin of the Alphabet 

3 The Norman Conquest of England . 

4 The Practice of Authors and Copyists 

5 The Invention of Printing . 

6 The Publication of English Dictionaries 

7 Spelling in the Schools . . . 

8 Educational Value of Spelling . 

(i) Not a Culture Study 
(2) Conventional Value 

III Psychology of Spelling .... 

I Studies Published .... 
(i) Adelaide E. Wyckoff 

(a) Conclusions (1-4) 
(2) W. A. Lay . 

(a) Conclusions (1-9) 



PAGE 

I 
I 

3 
6 

7 
9 

9 
10 
10 
II 

13 
14 
16 

18 
18 

19 
20 

21 

22 

22 

23 
27 
27 
28 

29 
29 
29 
32 
32 
34 



VI 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



(3) 
(4) 
(5) 
(6) 
(7) 
(8) 



(9) 



H. H. Schiller 






35 


(a) Value of Methods 






35 


F. W. Smedley 






' 35 


(a) Conclusions (1-4) 






36 


H. E. Kratz . 






36 


(a) Conclusions (1-5) 






38 


Edward R. Shaw . 






38 


(a) Conclusions (1-3) 






38 


Dr. J. M. Rice 






39 


(a) Conclusions (1-3) 






40 


Miss E. K. Carmen 






. 41 


(a) Conclusions (1-2) 






. 42 


(b) Criticism 






• 43 


Oliver P. Comman . 






43 


(a) Fifteen-Minute Test 






44 


(A) Inferences (1-6) 




45 


(6) Analysis of Errors 




. 46 


(A) Motor Inco-ordination 


• 48 


(B) Complication . 




48 


(C) Sensory Inco-ordination 


. 48 


(c) Explanation of Terms (i-] 


^5) 


48 


(d) Inferences from Study of Errors 




(1-8) . . 






■ 52 



IV Conclusions Derived from the Nature, Value, 

AND Psychology of Spelling (1-30) . . 54 

From the Nature of Spelling. . . 54 

From the Psychology of Spelling . . 55 



Methods of Teaching Spelling 

I The Selection of Words .... 

(i) Arguments in favor of the Spelling-Book 

(2) Arguments against the Spelling-Book 

(3) Principles of Selection 

(a) Familiar as to Meaning 

(b) Some Difficulty of Spelling . 

(c) Phonetic at First 



59 

59 

59 
61 

63 

63 

63 

65 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Vll 



Principles of Method 

(i) English Spelling Arbitrary 

(2) Not a General Habit 

(3) Preparation of the Lesson 

(a) Pronunciation 

(b) Syllabication 

(c) Derivation . 

(d) Visual vs. Auditory Images 

(e) The Copying Method . 
(/) Motor Images of Speech 
(g) Automatic Through Writing 
(h) Combination of Senses 
(i) Connected Discourse . 
(j) No "Best Method" . 
{k) Homonyms 

The Test .... 

(a) Teaching and Testing 
Spelling a Sign of General Pedagogical 

Health 
Individual Differences 
Spelling Drill 

(a) Incidental Spelling 

(b) Every Lesson a Spelling Lesson 

(c) The Dictionary Habit 
(8) Spelling and Supervision 

3 The Time Allowance 

VI The Meaning and Use of Words . 

1 The Function of Words 

2 The Nature of Definition . 

(i) Illustration 

3 Relation of Language- Teaching to 

Teaching .... 
How Words Get Meaning 
(i) The Berlin Investigation 

(2) Dr. Hall's Contents of Children's Minds 

(3) Earl Barnes 

(4) Will Grant Chambers 



(4) 

(5) 

(6) 
(7) 



4 



Knowledge 



65 
65 
66 
67 
67 
67 
67 
68 
68 
68 
69 
69 
69 

71 
71 

71 
73 

75 
77 
78 

79 

82 

83 
84 

87 

89 
89 
92 

93 

95 
96 
96 
97 
99 
104 



viii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

5 Summary of Conclusions (i-ii) .... 104 

6 Words not to be Defined ..... 106 

(i) Too Difficult 106 

(2) Too Easy 107 

7 What Words to Define 108 

(i) Words in Common Use Whose Meaning 

is not Familiar to Children . . . 108 

(2) Words Needed to Master the Course of 

Study 109 



VII Methods of Teaching the Meaning and Use 
OF Words 

1 Inductive 

(i) The Natural Method . 

(2) The Use of Context 

(3) Memorizing Prose and Poetry . 

(4) Story and Picture .... 

(5) Dramatization .... 

2 Deductive 

(i) Prefixes and Suffixes 

(a) Graded Lists 

(b) Review Work 

(2) Definition 

(a) Synonyms .... 

(b) Figurative and Poetic Equivalents 
■? Tests of Meaning 



(i) Definitions not to be Copied or Memorized 127 

(2) Children's Definitions 

(3) Children's Sentences 



VIII Devices in Word Study . . . . 

1 "Trapping" 

2 A Modem Substitute for Trapping 

3 Spelling in 185 1 

4 Names of Common Things 

5 "Logomachy" 

6 Calling Attention to Parts Liable to be Mistaken 

7 Drill on Words Often Mispronounced . 



Ill 
"3 

113 

"5 
116 

n7 

119 

120 

120 

122 

123 

123 

125 

126 

127 



129 
130 

132 
132 

133 
136 

163 

137 

137 

138 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ix 

8 Spelling i39 

(i) How the Exercise is Conduxted . .139 

(2) Method of Correction .... 140 

9 Meaning 142 

ID Spelling by Dictation 143 

II Meaning and Use 143 

IX Summary of Word Study 148 

1 Word Analysis and Synthesis . . . .148 

2 Choice of Words 15° 

3 Diacritical Marks 152 

4 Use of the Dictionary 152 

5 Bibliography i54 

6 Alphabetical List of Prefixes, Suffixes, and Stems 

for Reference 156 

(i) Prefixes iS^ 

(2) Suffixes . . . . . • . 158 

(3) Latin Stem . . ., . . .161 

(4) Greek Stems 161 

Summary of Word Study . . . . . 162 

Index 173 



Elementary Word Study 

I 

The Scope of Word Study 

The study of words in the elementary school in- 
cludes the following elements: Spelling, Meaning 
and Use, Derivation (including prefixes and suffixes), 
Capitalization, Syllabication, Pronunciation, Phonics, 
Contractions, Abbreviations, Compounds, Plurals, 
Possessives, Homonyms, Synonyms, and Dictionary 
Drill. Spelling and Meaning will be treated in 
separate chapters. Some of the topics will be con- 
sidered under spelling and the rest will be briefly 
discussed here. 

I Pronunciation 

Orthography and pronunciation are reverse pro- 
cesses. The problem of pronunciation is: given the 
form of a word to determine its name. The problem 
of spelling is: given the name of a word to determine 
its form. Pronunciation is the translation of eye- 



2 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

symbols into ear-symbols; spelling is the translation 
of ear-symbols into eye-symbols. 

That the problems of word study which the present 
generation is trying to solve are not new, may be seen 
from the following quotation from a book printed 
almost a century ago:^ 

"Some have attempted to change the orthography 
of our language, and to write words as they are pro- 
nounced; but for an individual to presume to make 
the least alteration, in that respect, must be the height 
of arrogance and folly. . . . Even a Roman 
emperor once exerted all his power to introduce one 
new letter into their alphabet, but without effect. 
. . . Custom will be sovereign in this case. . . . 
Pronunciation, as well as orthography, is entirely 
under the control of custom. This has decreed that 
the words boatswain, shew, sew, cucumber, should be 
pronounced bosn, sho, so, coiucumber.^^ 

In order to become proficient in pronunciation the 
child must have systematic drill in the art. The 
chief elements involved in pronunciation are enun- 
ciation and accent. Enunciation is sometimes called 
articulation. Both terms are related to pronuncia- 
tion as parts to a whole. Pronunciation refers to the 
utterance of the entire word, while articulation or 

^ Abner Alden: "An Introduction to Spelling and Reading." Vol. 
II., 9th edition, Boston, 1824. 



THE SCOPE OF WORD STUDY 3 

enunciation has reference to the elementary parts of 
the word. We get correct pronunciation of a word 
by the clear articulation of its sounds and syllables, 
and a proper distribution of the accents. 

(i) Articulation or Enunciation Elemen- 
tary sounds are divided into vowels and consonants. 
The vowel characters, with their diacritical markings, 
represent nineteen sounds. A vowel sound is pro- 
duced by a continuous passage of the breath. The 
following table exhibits the vowel sounds as usually 
given in the dictionaries : 

a, long, as in ale; like e in prey. 

a, short, as in fat. 

a, as in care; like e in there. 

a, Italian, as in arm. 

a as in ask. 

a, broad, as in all; like 6 in fork, aw in pawn, au in faun. 

e, long, as in me, like i in police. 

6, short, as in met; like ai in said, ay in says. 

e, as in her; likeT in bird, u in urge. 

1, long, as in ice; like y in fly. 

i, short, as in tin; like y in hymn. 

o, long, as in old; like ew in sew, eau in beau. 

6, short, as in not; like a in what. 

u, long, as in use; like ew in few. 

ti, short, as in ^ww; like 6 in none. 

\}, as in rude; like o in to, 00 in woo;^. 

u, as in pull; like o in wolf, 06 in /oo/. 

oi, as in boil; like oy in boy. 

ow, as in how; like ou in our. 



4 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

A consonant sound is produced by an obstruction 
of the breath. In our language a consonant sound 
is usually uttered in combination with a vowel sound. 
Consonants are divided into classes that have refer- 
ence to the organs by which the sounds are produced, 
as follows : 

(a) Aspirate ; as h, produced by forcing the breath 
through the glottis. 

(b) Gutturals; as, k, g, ch (chorus), made by 
throat. 

(c) Palatals; as, ch (church), j, made by palate. 

(d) Dentals, made by teeth; as, /, d, th. 

(e) Linguals, by tongue; also called sibilants, 
from their hissing sound; as, sh, zh, s, z. 

(/) Labials, by the lips ; as p, b, /, v, 

L and r are called trills. 

Consonant sounds are further classified as hard 
or soft. Those that require considerable force in 
utterance are hard, like p, and /; those that require 
less effort are soft, like b and d. The table which 
follows exhibits the consonants in their proper classi- 
fication, and names also the organs by which they are 
severally produced: 






CO 

< 



M 




















P* 


to 






f-i* 


>H 






F-M 


03 


3 


i3 


03 


03 


p 




ts 


4-> 

C3 




bO 


S 


a 


dJ 


<u 




o 


^ 


Q 


Q 


J 



03 
bO 



o3 



o 

C/3 



CO 



O 

CO 

O 
U 

o 

H 
iJ 

< 



03 






bO 



bO 

:3 






3 

Xi 



u 



13 



o 

CO 



o3 



o 

o 



(U 
+-> 

bO o. 

o 

O 
«4-l CO 
O 

o ^ 



o3 



03 
bC ^ 

.O 

I § 
P< 



o3 
OJ 
bO 
O 

4-1 

O -ir; 



H 



o3 
h-1 






'a, 



bD 
(U 

CI ^ 
03 4::! 

§^ 

O <^ 
H 



o3 (L> 
CO P 






Ph 



O 






a 

03 
(U 
::3 
bO 

o 

•4-1 r^ 



0) 



1) o3 



73 
C 

o ^ 
h1 



00 



Oh—' 





^ 

-4-J 
"f-4 

^ 

V 






J3 



0) • 
O 0) 
t3 S 



Dh.& 



OS 




00 




H 




^ 




ri4 




>-l 




o 




>H 




^ 




(U 




^ 




^ 




>> 




C 




03 




IHh 




a 


, 


o 


t/j 


U 


H) 




,c) 


^ 


CO 


Q 


^~i 


Q 


.n 


pq 


3 
D. 


c 


a> 


03 


^ 


u 


-t-i 


•c 




fi) 


<+H 


B 


O 


< 


IS 



• -t 


(U 


bC Dl. 


C 




W 


T3 


.S^ 


CO 

C 
O 




y^ 


>-. 


<u 


^ 


H-J 




TJ 




<IJ 




U 




j5 




c^ 




> 




X) 




< 





6 



ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



The following letters have been omitted from this 
table because their sounds are represented by other 
letters: c^ g (soft), q, x. 

Another scheme of classifying sounds is the one 
used by Webster's International Dictionary; this is 
shown in the tables given below : 



Vocals 
These are the vowels: a, e, i, o, u (w, y, sometimes). 



SUBVOCALS 



h,asin bid 

did 

gun 

jet 

let 

met 

nag 



g, " 
J, " 
1, " 
m, " 

n, " 



r,astn rug 



V, 

w, 

y> 

ng: 



vote 

win 

yet 

gaze 

azure 

long 



th, as in those 



Aspirates 



f,asin fame 

h, " home 

k, " king 

P, " play 

s, " sky 



t,asin time 

ch, " child 

sh, " shine 

th, " theme 

wh," when 



Correct pronunciation is taught chiefly by imita- 
tion, by phonic analysis, and by correcting the faults 
of the pupils. 

(a) Imitation The child instinctively imitates 
the language sounds he hears. This is the impulse 
which guarantees the acquisition of language in the 



THE SCOPE OF WORD STUDY 7 

case of normal children. So potent is the instinct of 
imitation that a child will learn any language that 
happens to prevail in his environment. Alfred 
Russell Wallace says that the same is true in the 
animal world. Young birds never have the song 
peculiar to their species, if they have not heard it; 
whereas they acquire very easily the song of any 
other bird with which they are associated.^ These 
significant facts point the way for the teacher in his 
efforts to improve the child in the use of oral or 
written speech. The teacher must himself be a 
model of correct articulation, if he expects his pupils 
to acquire the habit. In teaching foreigners he 
will find it necessary to utter the difficult sounds 
slowly and require the pupil to observe the posi- 
tion of the speech organs while the sounds are 
produced. 

(h) Phonic Analysis This should receive care- 
ful attention in every school. Many of the faults of 
pronunciation found among children may be pre- 
vented or removed by persistent drilling on elementary 
sounds. The work is to be so conducted as to be both 
voice-training and ear-training, and is to be so organ- 
ized as to become an essential and integral element 
in the method of teaching reading. One very thor- 

' Tracy: "The Psychology of Childhood," p. 117. D. C. Heath 
& Co., Boston, 1896. 



S ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

ough and intelligent scheme of phonetic drill was 
worked out by the late Edward G. Ward, of Brooklyn, 
in connection with his method of reading.^ Many 
other schemes have been devised by authors of text- 
books on reading; but in spite of all the excellent 
material available, phonic drills are sadly neglected 
in many schools. The principal point to remember 
in this connection is that such drills, in order to be 
effective, must be both systematic and persistent. 
Desultory work, which is done one way in one class 
and some other way in the next class, or is done when 
the teacher happens to think of it, is almost a total 
waste of time. Careful supervision, which grades 
the work and insists on daily faithful practice, is 
absolutely essential to success. The first desidera- 
tum, therefore, in phonic drills, is a plan devised by a 
teacher, principal, or author, which specifies the exact 
work to be done in each grade and sees to it that 
every teacher performs his allotted portion of the 
task. 

Phonic Analysis should include exercises on the 
vocals, subvocals, and aspirates by themselves and 
in combination. At the end of the first three years, 
if the work has been thoroughly done, the formal 
drills on mere sounds as such may cease. Thereafter 
each teacher or grade should work upon exercises 

^ " The Rational Method. " Silver, Burdette & Co., New York. 



THE SCOPE OF WORD STUDY 9 

designed to correct characteristic errors made by the 
pupils. These faults of pronunciation will vary in 
different communities and in different sections of the 
same city. Children of German parentage or en- 
vironment have one set of difficulties, Italians have 
another, Russians have another, and so on; while 
the native boy has a stock of mistakes peculiar to 
himself. A half-hour's observation in any class- 
room will reveal the kind of drill required in that 
particular class. In the course of a five-minute 
reading-test of a fourth-year class the author dis- 
covered the following errors: threw (troo), dew (do), 
Arctic (Artie), Antarctic (Antartic), bird (boid), 
apology. These and similar words should be put 
into lists and given to children for practice in articu- 
lation. 

(c) Errors due to Defective Organisms. 

(A) Stammering Stammering is a hindrance 
or obstructed utterance of words. Sometimes it is 
due to a defect in the organs of speech. Such was 
apparently the fact in the case of Demosthenes, 
who is said to have cured his faults of enunciation by 
declaiming with pebbles in his mouth. Sometimes 
stammering is merely a habit contracted through 
the power of suggestion by associating with com- 
panions who stammer. When some people are greatly 
excited by anger or other powerful emotions they 



lo ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

stammer. The remedy in both of the cases just 
cited is speaking slowly. Frequently stammering 
is due to nervousness or timidity, in which case the 
teacher may overcome the defect by inducing in the 
pupil a state of self-confidence and self-forgetfulness. 
One of the writer's classmates in a normal school was 
afflicted in his youthful days with a serious case of 
stammering. He was cured in a school of oratory 
chiefly by drills in deliberate utterance and the habit 
of self-control. To-day he is a prominent railroad 
attorney of the West, and no one would suspect his 
former deficiency. 

(B) Lisping Lisping is the use of the sound 
th for s. It may be due to a peculiarity of the vocal 
organs, or may be a mere habit of which the victim 
is unconscious. The remedy is practice in making 
the sounds of 5 and th, either in isolation or in words 
of which they form a part. 

(2) Accent For a complete discussion of 
accent the reader is referred to the unabridged dic- 
tionaries. Accent is a stress of voice placed upon 
one or more syllables. It gives a musical element to 
speech and adds to the beauty and harmony of 
language. Accent is of two kinds, primary and 
secondary, the former being the stronger. Some 
words have two secondary accents. Sometimes the 
primary and secondary accents are nearly equal, as 



THE SCOPE OF WORD STUDY ii 

in violifiy caravan^ artisan. Sometimes the primary 
and secondary accents are exchanged, the primary 
becoming secondary and the secondary primary. 
Artisan, reverie, and invalid are examples of exchanged 
accent. 

Accent, like enunciation, is taught chiefly by imi- 
tation and by drills in correcting errors. The teacher 
should be a model of correct accent. The pupil 
should be made familiar with the method of indicating 
accent in the dictionary. Pronouncing matches 
may be conducted as follows: The teacher spells 
words orally or on the blackboard and children are 
called upon to pronounce. They may choose sides, 
or "trap," or "go out.'' An occasional exercise of 
this kind lends zest to the work, stimulates interest 
in correct pronunciation, and assists in the formation 
of habits of accuracy in oral speech. 

(3) Diacritical Marks Phonic work in Eng- 
lish involves a knowledge of diacritical markings. 
Since we employ the Phoenician alphabet, which has 
but twenty-six characters, to represent some forty 
sounds, it is necessary for some letters to represent 
two or more sounds. In order to indicate the exact 
pronunciation of a word, therefore, we employ a 
system of marks. Following is a list of the marks 
commonly used : 



12 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



Vowel Markings 


The macron, 


— , as in ate, eve. 


" breve, 


w, as in bat, f6x. 


" dot. 


. , as in ask, was. 


" diaeresis, 


.., as in arm, all. 


" circumflex, 


«, as in flare, th^re. 


" wave or tilde, 


-, as in ftr, term. 


Consonant Markings 


The bar. 


— , as in get. 


" dot. 


., as in gem. 


" cedilla, 


^, as in gell. 


" suspended bar, 


J., as in exist. 



The extent to which these marks should be resorted 
to in elementary reading is a disputed point. Many 
excellent authorities make them an essential part of 
phonic reading and phonic drill from the very first, 
while other well-known educators believe that they 
may be dispensed with during the first three years. 
But after the child is old enough to use a dictionary 
he must know the meaning of diacritics. The writer 
has found many classes that could use the dictionary 
with facility as a book of definitions, but he has seldom 
found one whose members could with confidence 
tell the pronunciation of a strange or difiicult word 
by its markings. This deficiency is due to lack of 
drills in diacritical markings. Children should be 
practiced in pronouncing words according to their 



THE SCOPE OF WORD STUDY 13 

marks, and also in marking the sounds of words 
whose pronunciation is given. 

2 Capitalization 

The use of capitals demands attention from the 
time when the child first begins to write to the end of 
the school course. In the first year the pupil will do 
little more than copy words and sentences, and for 
this work no formal teaching as to capitals will be 
needed. During the second year, dictation and 
reproduction may be introduced, and therefore it will 
be necessary to teach the use of the capital at the be- 
ginning of a sentence and in writing I and O . During 
the third year the use of capital letters for the first 
word of a line of poetry, for months and days, and 
for titles, may be added. For the fourth year the 
capital for particular names can be taught. During 
the fifth year, add the words North, South, East, 
West, when used to denote parts of a country; also 
the first word of a direct quotation, names repre- 
senting the Deity, names of the books of the 
Bible, and important words in titles and head- 
ings. There remains only the rule for personifi- 
cation, which may be introduced during the sixth 
or seventh year. 

In all word lists for spelling, proper nouns and 
adjectives should be printed or written with capital 



14 EhnMI'MTAin' wain) STflDV 

JniflnlH; all (Aljt;r worth Hhcnild bcj^in with small 
IcItc.r.H. 

3 Abbreviations and Contractions 

Tin':; i:, ;i hir.y world, ;in<l hn.incHH men flavc time* 
\>y 'ihorlcninf/ wriilcn wonl.. I'y (.-illin// Mlfcntiofi 
to Htrect HJ^nH, hillH, Idtcrw, etc., the teacher induces 
children 1<> ohwjrve the two wayn of making wordrt 
fthorter; namely, by .ihl^rcvialionH and by contnic 
tionn. 'I'he rule in then diHcovered that abbreviationn 
arc followed by the period and eontraetionn reprenent 
the orniltcd letterH by the apostroj>he. Ah abbrevia- 
tionH are merely deviccH to wive time and wpace, they 
are neither neceswary nor denirable cxcci)t in bnsinesH 
pajK'rH and letter hcadiiifis or when a lack of time or 
space ju'cirr; lo n(|uir(' Ihem, c.j^., the word "County" 
and the name of Ihe ntate in the superscription of a 
letter. (Contractions and abbreviations should be 
taught systematically, either as a part of the spelling 
lesson or in se|)arale lessons. In Ihe case of proper 
names, many h-ac hers prefer lo present the abbrevia- 
lion with the word to wlii( h it belongs in the same 
Bpelltng cxcrcii.e, r.f*.: 



jam I.I ry 


Jan. 


I'Vbruary 


I<V1). 


August 


Aug. 



inv: Si'in'E of word study 



'5 



Wednesday 


Wed. 


Ca|)lain 


Ctipt. 


CololK'l 


Col. 


Colonido 


Col. 


MicIiiKiin 


Mich 


Mn|,^lMn(l 


lOn^. 


Kcnlucky 


Ky. 



There is no espcc i.il dilViriilly in Ic'icliin)^ (lu^ uso 
of ablm'vialions and ( onl lacl ions as ca riy as 1 \\v third 
year; and llu'rc i;; nnu li need of such insiriution as 
soon as Ihc child lias a(<[iiircd sonic facility in ivjidiiij^ 
He niccls in his books many cases of c()ntrac(i<m 
similar (o (he followin)^: 



Tlir ycar'.'i Jil (lie ;i|)iiiiK 
Ami (lity'.M III llic moin; 
( iod's ill I lis lii-.ivt-ii, 
AH',". lif-'Jil vvilli I he world. 

Some early drills of I he kind sugg^'stcd here will 
prepare Ihe pupil to read and understand ( onl ract ions 
wilhoiil <li(hcul(y. In order lo impress Ihe lessons, 
Ihe two way:; of shorteniii}^ words should not only be 
observed in written or |)rln(ed form, but should be 
fre(iuently written from dictation. 



i6 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

4 Compounds, Plurals, and Possessives 

These three classes of words are usually taught in 
connection with grammar, but the exercise is really 
one of spelling. Some incidental teaching of the 
words may be done through observation and written 
practice in the early years, before the child is intro- 
duced to the formal study of grammar. After he takes 
up grammar as a separate study the drills should be 
frequent and thorough. Some of the spelling books 
make provision for words of the kind above specified, 
as shown in the following exercises : 

Rule To form the plural of nouns ending in y preceded by a 
consonant, change yioi and add es; as army, armies. 

ally beau ty a'genc y en'e my 

du ty bod y ar'ter y in jur y 

ed dy fair y cav i ty gal ler y 

Rule Nouns ending in /, jf, and fe are made plural either by 
adding 5 or changing / or je into v and adding es. 

Add ^ Change /, jf, or fe to v and add es 

be lief roof beef loaf 

chief scarf calf knife 

proof sheriff life wolf 

Certain common foreign plurals require special 
attention ; among these are phenomena, data, genera^ 
axes, etc. Many business men and sometimes careless 
writers of books are in the habit of using ^'data'' 



THE SCOPE OF WORD STUDY 17 

with a singular verb. The writing of plural com- 
pounds is generally rendered easy by the simple 
device of determining the principal part of the word 
and pluralizing that, e. g. : 

father-in-law; principal part, father; hence, fathers- 
in-law. 

court-martial; principal part, court (the thing we 
are speaking of) ; hence, courts-martial. 

handful; principal part, /^/(equals a measure); 
hence, handfuls. 

rose-tree; principal part, tree; hence, rose-trees. 



II 

Nature and Value of Spelling 

I Where to Begin Spelling 

The method of teaching reading at present in vogue, 
under whatever name or guise it appears, begins 
almost from the first day with the expression of 
thoughts in sentences. Words are learned not 
merely as constituent parts of the sentences, but also 
as individual symbols of objects or ideas. If the 
method be analytic, the process of learning to read 
involves the separation of the sentence into words, 
the words into syllables, syllables into letters or 
sounds. If the method be synthetic, the reverse 
procedure takes place; the child begins with letters, 
combines these into syllables, syllables into words, 
and words into sentences. Whenever the stage of the 
individual sound has been reached, it is necessary to 
teach the names of the characters that represent the 
sounds. It is customary to teach the letters of the 
alphabet in order at the close of the first year or at 
the beginning of the second. Word-analysis-and- 

i8 



NATURE AND VALUE OF SPELLING 19 

synthesis naturally leads to spelling, which may 
therefore properly begin with the second year of 
school. During the first stage of spelling-instruction 
words should be presented in reading lessons in such 
a way as to make their meaning clear. Pupils are 
to observe carefully the printed and written forms of 
words. The naming of letters will help to fix the 
forms in the memory. Whether the method be 
anal)^ic or synthetic, the final stage in either case 
will be a mastery of the elements and their combina- 
tion as word-units. 



2 The Origin of tlie Alphabet 

The English alphabet originated in Egypt in the 
remote past . From there it was carried into Phoenicia, 
where it was modified and became the Phoenician 
alphabet. It is well known that the Phoenicians 
were a commercial and colonizing people, and where- 
ever they went they carried this alphabet. In time 
the Greeks received it. They passed it on to the 
Romans, and they in turn gave it to the Germanic 
peoples. Originally the alphabet had twenty-two 
characters. In the course of historic transmission, 
some of the characters were dropped, others were 
added, and the phonetic values of many were greatly 
changed. Furthermore, there were not enough 



^o ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

characters to represent all the sounds of the modem 
languages that borrowed the oriental alphabet, and 
so it came to pass that some letters represent a variety 
of sounds. It is evident that this circumstance alone 
accounts for a large part of the difficulty of English 
orthography. There is nothing in the pronunciation 
of such words as dough, cough, plough, etc., that 
gives any hint as to their spelling; and conversely, 
the spelling furnishes no clue concerning the pro- 
nunciation. 

3 The Norman Conquest of England 

The native language of England is the speech of 
Teutonic tribes that came into the country in the 
fifth century and conquered the Celtic inhabitants. 
It is known as Anglo-Saxon. "The Roman mission- 
aries first reduced this language to writing. They 
used the Roman letters, in nearly their Roman value, 
and added new characters for the sound of a in jat, 
th in their, th in thine, and w. In the fusion of 
Normans and Saxons, after the Norman Conquest, 
neither party could pronounce the words of the other 
party correctly, and in spelling these mispronuncia- 
tions, they introduced many lamentable irregulari- 
ties."^ But while this union of two great tongues 



1 « 



The Origin of Language. " Quoted in Standard Dictionary, p. IX. 



NATURE AND VALUE OF SPELLING 21 

has resulted in incongruous and unmanageable 
spellings, it has produced a language of which Jacob 
Grimm writes as follows: ^^Its entire structure and 
completeness, at once wholly intellectual and wonder- 
fully perfected, has proceeded from an astonishing 
union between the two noblest languages of modern 
Europe, the Germanic and the Romanic; and it is 
well known how they are related in English, the 
former predominantly giving the material basis, the 
latter the intellectual conception. In fact, the Eng- 
lish language as used by Shakespeare can rightly 
be called a world language, and seems, like the 
English people itself, destined in the future, in yet 
greater measure than heretofore, to rule in all the 
ends of the earth. When we consider its richness, 
intellectuality, and condensed adaptability, no one 
of all the other living languages may be placed at its 
side, yea, not even our German language. " 

4 The Practice of Authors and Copyists 

Before the invention of printing, authors spelled 
as they pleased. There was no recognized standard. 
Words were spelled in various ways by different 
authors and frequently by the same author. Even 
proper names had no fixed and invariable spelling. 
Copyists still further complicated the situation by 



22 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

orthographic independence and inconsistency. In 
the introduction to ''Webster's Dictionary" it is 
stated that Main waring has been spelled in one 
hundred thirty-one different ways. Even in Shakes- 
peare's day we find the great poet's name written 
in more than thirty different ways. 

5 The Invention of Printing 

The immediate result of the invention of printing 
by movable types was that the bad spellings of the 
time became more or less fixed. Indeed, much of 
the perverse spelling of books printed three centuries 
ago may be attributed to the printer, who often 
inserted or eliminated letters to suit the length of 
the line. It is no uncommon thing to find in the 
works of Chaucer and Spenser the same words 
occurring in several different forms upon the same 
page. 

6 The Publication of English Dictionaries 

To the celebrated Dictionary of Dr. Samuel John- 
son, more than to any other influence, is credited the 
present fixed form of English spelling. This great 
work was first published in 1775. The changes in 
spelling introduced by Dr. Johnson were generally 
made in order to restore the ancient orthography or 



NATURE AND VALUE OF SPELLING 23 

to remove some anomaly. The result of Dr. John- 
son's work was that it settled usage definitely in 
favor of some one spelling, and thus removed the 
cause of much confusion. In 1828 Dr. Noah Web- 
ster issued his Dictionary of the English Language. 
He made many changes in spelling that met with 
universal favor among reputable authors. The 
most important of these changes was the restoration 
of older spellings in order to reveal the et5miological 
affinities of words and to remove anomalies and 
special cases. But in spite of these changes a large 
portion of English words still refuse to conform to 
the rules for spelling. 

7 Spelling in the Schools 

Spelling as a school subject owes its existence to 
the invention of printing. The spelling method of 
teaching reading came into universal use in the 
Eighteenth Century. It has been well said that 
our fathers used all their ingenuity to make the 
simple art of reading as difficult as possible. Not 
only did the children learn to read by spelling, but 
spelling was kept up after they had acquired some 
facility in reading. Even the most difficult and 
unusual words were used. A reading book pub- 
lished in 1766 contains these words for spelling: 



24 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

Allerliebensivurdigster, regimentsquartiermeister. An- 
other reading-and-spelling-book for beginners, pub- 
lished in 1804, begins the spelling with the word 
Viceoberappellazionsgerichtspresident, which contains 
fourteen syllables. An educational author, writing 
in 1822, speaks as follows concerning these methods: 
^'Spelling seems to be a frightful judgment of divine 
wrath, which the righteous God has allowed to come 
upon us and oppress us for a long time on account 
of our school sins, and we fervently pray God for 
Christ's sake that He will have mercy upon us and 
take away this judgment from us and open the eyes 
of those who cannot see until He does, in order that a 
permanent foundation may the sooner be laid, and 
that which has long lain waste may the sooner be 
rebuilt."^ Another writer says that the spelling of 
those days was "a greater evil than the burning of 
witches and heretics, a greater crime than the rack 
and all inhumanities taken together." In America 
it was the fashion at one time to use the dictionary 
as a spelling book and to spell and define all the 
words printed from A to Z. Christopher A. Green, 
in the year 1851, delivered an address before the 
American Institute of Instruction, in the course of 
which he referred to his own method of teaching 

' Quoted by Dr. Bumham from H. Fechner, Pedagogical Seminary^ 
Vol. 13, p. 477. 



NATURE AND VALUE OF SPELLING 25 

spelling in these words: ''Each pupil has a blank 
book, in which the words spelled are written with 
pen and ink. I use Worcester's dictionary, which I 
go through regularly from beginning to end."^ 
The method has been well characterized by Mr, 
Roark as "a pedagogical horror. "^ 

From this extreme view of the importance of spell- 
ing the pendulum in educational history swings to 
the opposite extreme, that spelling is of little or no 
consequence. ''Very few people realize,'' says 
Walter W. Skeat,3 ^'the extreme lateness of the idea 
that the same spelling must be adhered to throughout 
the same book. It is really no earlier than 1700; 
for previously to that date varieties of spelling, such 
as he and hee upon the same page, can usually be 
found. " Queen Elizabeth is cited as a well-educated 
woman who spelled "sovereign" in seven different 
ways. Frederick the Great and Blucher are examples 
of indifference to spelling. Some writers of the 
present generation hold contemptuous views con- 
cerning the value of orthography. The late Arnold 
Tompkins was quoted as sa5dng that he wanted 
children to learn to spell, but "not too well." 

^ "Methods of Teaching Spelling," in Journal of American Institute 
of Instruction, 185 1, p. 181. 

^"Method in Education," p. 133. American Book Company, 1899. 

' The National Review, Vol. 48, p. 304. 



26 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

William E. Mead/ of Wesleyan University, Middle- 
town, Conn., says there is no special virtue in being 
able to arrange letters in a certain order. Spelling 
which is good in America is regarded as very bad in 
England. An ignorant man usually spells badly, 
but many men who are not quite sure of their spelling 
are unjustly ranked among the ignorant. There is 
some excuse for the worst of spellers, and there is 
much question whether the social position of many 
excellent people should on this score be made pre- 
carious. "It is even hinted that George Washington 
and other patriots showed their independence as much 
in spelling as in other things. "2 

Confusion and conflict have been rife since the 
time of Pestalozzi as to the best way of teaching 
spelling. Some of the great writers emphasize 
sound and the ear. 3 Others lay stress on the impor- 
tance of the physiognomy of the word and the eye. 4 
Still others think the rules of spelling and the under- 
standing are of supreme importance. 5 Diesterweg 
especially emphasized pronunciation, while Bor- 

^ "Is Spelling a Lost Art ?" Ediicational Review, Vol. ig, p. 49. 

^ In a letter written by Washington in 1785 to his Aid-de-Camp, which 
was recently sold at auction, choosing is spelled "chusing. " See New 
York Times, March 29, 1908. 

^ Olivier, Grassman, Hamisch, Diesterweg, Rudolf. See Dr. Bum- 
ham's article. 

^Bormann, Kehr. 

* Wandes, Heyse, Mohr. 



NATURE AND VALUE OF SPELLING 27 

mann considered this a hindrance rather than a help. 
Wawrzyk is the only authority among the early 
writers who points out the significance of muscular 
movements of the hand and speech organs. Bor- 
mann and Kehr believe copying the most advan- 
tageous movement in learning to spell, while Naumann 
is convinced that copying is a serious error. Hamisch 
and others speak disrespectfully of rules. Diesterweg 
advocates dictation exercises; Bormann and Kehr 
are opposed to this procedure. They all use oral 
spelling, except Wawrzyk, who absolutely rejects 
it. 

This confusion of opinion is due to the fact that it 
is opinion rather than knowledge. The authors 
quoted argued and theorized, but did not study the 
psychology of the subject. In order to determine 
in a conclusive way which of the several methods is 
the most efficacious, scientific experiments are re- 
quired. These have in recent years been made, and 
the facts established by them will be found in Chapter 
III. 

8 Educational Value of Spelling 

(i) Not a Culture Study It has become 
generally understood that spelling is not a culture 
study, like literature and history, but a necessary 
art which is to be acquired in the most direct and 



28 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

positive way, and which is to become automatic as 
soon as possible, 

(2) Conventional Value In spite of the fact 
that some people have a poor opinion of good spellers 
and cite Washington and Queen Elizabeth in support 
of their contention that very good people have been 
poor spellers, it remains true, in the opinion of the 
present generation, that it is a disgrace not to know 
how to spell. Business men complain every now 
and then that the graduates of the elementary schools 
can't spell. Dean Briggs, of Harvard, says: ^^We 
have boys who cannot spell, teachers who cannot 
spell, college professors who cannot spell and who 
have a mean opinion of spelling.'' A single slip of 
spelling in an otherwise faultless letter attaches an 
odium to the writer. It is no particular credit to be 
a good speller, but it is a disgrace to be a poor one. 
Spelling, therefore, has a conventional value which 
may not be despised with impunity. 



Ill 

The Psychology of Spelling 

In order to arrive at sound conclusions on the peda- 
gogy of spelling, it is well to inquire next what the 
subject is as a mental process. What mental and 
physiological activities are involved in an act of spell- 
ing ? What is the cause of poor spelling ? What is 
the relation of the spelling habit to general mental 
ability ? Which of the several methods or devices of 
teaching spelling produce the best results, and why? 
These and a host of similar considerations are in- 
volved in the discussion of the spelling question. 
In this as in other subjects the major part of the 
literature accessible is the record of mere opinion, 
based usually upon personal experience, or other 
insufficient data. The psychology of spelling has been 
scientifically studied by a number of educators in 
this country and in Europe. Following will be found 
a brief account of nine of these investigations with 
the conclusions drawn from each. 

(i) Adelaide E. Wyckoff ^ In 1893, ^i^s 

^ Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 2, p. 448. 

29 



30 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

Wyckoff published a brief article giving an account 
of some experiments she had made upon five young 
women over twenty years of age whom she designates 
as "incorrigible bad spellers. " The subjects were in 
other respects able and faithful students of Packer 
Institute, Brooklyn, New York. For purposes of 
comparison the experiments were made also upon 
two good spellers. The author analyzes the spelling 
process into the following elements: sensation (per- 
ception); directing of attention; retentiveness; mental 
image; automatic circuit. 

The test of the senses (for perception) revealed 
defective vision in four of the five poor spellers. 

The mode of attention was tested by the exposure 
for one second of a card containing an unpronounce- 
able combination of letters. The subject was re- 
quired to write down the letters in the order observed. 
This test was also given to forty other students. The 
result showed three modes of directing the attention : 

In the first, two or three letters only were seen, 
usually the first, second, and last. This mode of 
attention seizes the whole of an impression with its 
characteristic features. The bad spellers of this 
type "were students who always sought out the 
general principle and remembered by means of it. 
Conspicuous as thinkers, they were comparatively 
slow readers. Almost all their mistakes in spelling 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 31 

occurredinthelatterhalf of theword, . . Further 
test made it clear that attention was habitually directed 
to the beginning of the word. " 

In the second mode of attention, most of the letters 
were correctly perceived and in the right order. 
"The impression m.ade was that of a whole composed 
of distinct parts." The best representative of this 
type was able to perceive instantly and correctly a 
combination of nine letters, but she failed utterly 
in the tests on visualization and retention. 

In the third mode, most of the letters were seen, 
but the order was not known. In one case nine 
correct letters were given in a shufHed order. Here, 
apparently, the impression was of individual unre- 
lated parts. This class furnished no bad spellers. 

"Further tests showed that the best natural speller 
perceived long words in two or more groups of letters, 
none of the poor spellers having this habit. "^ 

No account is given of the test for memory. 

The test for imaging required the subject to spell 
the word backward from the visual image. 

The automatic circuit was tested by having a 
paragraph written with the hand concealed. Mis- 

^ This statement is interesting in connection with recent discoveries as 
to fixation "points" in reading, as revealed by the scientific study of eye- 
movements. See "The Psychology of Reading," by Dearborn. The 
Science Press, New York, 1906. Also see " The Psychology and Pedagogy 
of Reading, " by Huey. Macmillan, 1908. 



32 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

takes were made of insertion, omission, inversion, 
and substitution. 

Following are Miss Wyckoff's conclusions: 

1 Many poor spellers have defective senses. 

2 Bad spelling may in part be the result of a strong natural bent 
toward selective attention. 

3 In such cases, where the syllable method of teaching might be 
especially ineffective, the mechanical memory would be helped by 
assisting the attention in its selection. For example, above the word 
separate might be written, as an invitation to the eye, the syllable p-a-r. 

4 "Apperceptive methods should be employed from the outset in 
the teaching of spelling. For the class of students mentioned in the 
preceding paragraph they are a necessity; for all they are an economy. 
The children could use a set of cards, each containing a word so chosen 
as to furnish material for induction in the finding of root, prefix, and 
suffix, and the meaning of each. Then, using these as tracers, they 
could notice in reading and blackboard exercise such new words as 
contained the familiar elements. " The words separate, preparatory, 
and reparation, are suggested as samples. 

(2) W. A. Lay^ This writer employed non- 
sense syllables in his experiments, of which the follow- 
ing are samples: Lihug, labog, lubag, ribog, rabig, 
labeg, guhlin. There were eight separate tests to 
determine the percentage of errors the subject made 
in remembering the spelling of four of the nonsense 
words under these eight conditions: i Hearing; 
2 Hearing with low speaking ; 3 Hearing with loud 

^ Fuher durch den Rechtschreib-Unterricht, Wiesbaden, 1899. An 
abstract of this study may be found in Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 13, 
p. 482. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 33 

speaking; 4 Seeing; 5 Seeing with low speaking; 
6 Seeing with loud speaking; 7 Oral spelling; 
8 Copying. 

In the tests for hearing and seeing without speech, 
the pupil, when words were spelled for him orally 
or in writing, was required to inhibit the muscular 
movement of expression by firmly closing his jaws 
and keeping the vocal organs quiet. In seeing or 
hearing with speech movement he repeated the 
letters in a whisper or aloud. The test included 
an aggregate of some three thousand individual 
experiments on children from the first to the sixth 
school year. The same experiments to the number 
of eighteen hundred were made upon classes of the 
teacher's seminary, and the results in this case were 
always similar to those obtained in the elementary 
school. Taking the figures of both investigations 
together, the averages are shown in the following 
tables : 

Method of Testing Per cent of errors 

per pupil 

1 Hearing, with speech movement 3.04 

2 Hearing, with low speaking 2.69 

3 Hearing, with loud speaking 2.25 

4 Seeing, with speech movement (reading) 1.22 

5 Seeing, with low speaking 1.02 

6 Seeing, with loud speaking 0.95 

7 Spelling (loud) 1.02 

8 Copying (low speaking) 0.54 



34 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

Commenting on these figures, Lay says: "If we 
note the increasing number of errors, then the exer- 
cises in orthography are to be arranged in the follow- 
ing order, according to their value : Copying, spelling 
orally, reading aloud, dictation." The same author 
also made experiments to determine the value of 
printed as compared with script spelling books. 
Among his further conclusions are the following : 

1 In orthography script spelling books surpass, printed books; 

. they are almost twice as valuable as material for sense per- 
ception. 

2 Cultivation of correct pronunciation is of great importance for 
learning orthography. 

3 As much as possible the sense of a word (apperceptive aid), the 
pronunciation, and the writing must be united, and the motor pre- 
sentation in writing is the determining factor. 

4 The usual spelling lesson should be omitted and forbidden by 
law on account of the time wasted by it. 

5 Dictation may be used in orthography only as a test and spar- 
ingly. 

6 The so-called copying method, the writing down of sentences 
and the like, from memory, is useful, since it is most closely related to 
the orthographic practice in common life. 

7 The knowledge of derivation of words is advantageous in 
orthography as a means of fixing the attention on word forms. 

8 The rules of spelhng are not directly of value, but are useful as 
a means of fixing the attention and developing a critical sense for 
orthographic forms. 

9 The words for spelling should not be selected according to a 
special system (as per spelling book), but should be selected from the 
lessons of the pupil. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 35 

(3) H. H. Schiller I At the suggestion of 
Herr Schiller several tests were made by two different 
investigators for the purpose of verifying or refuting 
the results of Dr. Lay. Schiller's conclusions in 
general corroborated those of Lay, and indicated 
that in spelling, sight is a better aid than hearing, 
and that in the case of both sight and hearing the 
errors are decreased when these senses are reinforced 
by speech or writing movements. Following is the 
order of the value of methods as fixed by Schiller: 

1 Copying, with soft speaking. 

2 Copying, with loud speaking. 

3 Seeing, with writing movement. 

4 Oral spelling. 

5 Seeing, with speaking aloud. 

6 Seeing, with soft speaking. 

7 Seeing alone. 

8 Hearing, with writing movement. 

9 Hearing, with loud speaking. 

10 Hearing, with soft speaking. 

11 Hearing alone. 

(4) F. W. Smedley^ Dr. Smedley conducted 
a series of tests to ascertain the different kinds of 
memory among Chicago school children, with special 

' Siudien und Versuche uher die Erlernung der Orthographie. Samm 
V. Abhand. a, d. Gebiete der pad. Pysch. und Phys. II. Bd. 4 Heft, 
Berlin, 1898. See Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 13, p. 485. 

^Report of the Department of Child Study and Pedagogical Investi- 
gation, Chicago Public Schools, Child Study Report, No. 3. 



36 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

reference to spelling. He used a series of digits. 
In one case the pupils were asked to reproduce the 
digits after hearing them read; in another test they 
reproduced the digits after looking at them; and 
finally the children wrote the digits on paper while 
the series was dictated and also exposed on a card, 
the pupils turning the face of their paper downward 
at the close of the dictation and reproducing the 
series from memory on test paper. It was found 
impossible to test different memories as isolated 
powers, for the reason that in spite of admonitions 
to the contrary the pupils moved their lips and throats 
while the hearing and sight tests were made. Among 
Dr. Smedley's inferences are these: 

1 There is probably a place for oral spelling. 

2 There should be some pronunciation of syllables with spelling. 

3 The words presented to the child at first should be, as far as 
possible, phonetic in their spelling, the more unusual forms being re- 
served for later years when the eye memory has become stronger. 

4 The spelling of words is rendered automatic through practice 
in writing them. 

(5) H. E. KJRATZ^ The experiments of Lay 
and Schiller were repeated in America by Mr. Kratz, 
who has published his results in a book. He 
used English nonsense words of ten letters each, 

^"Studies and Observations in the School-room." H, E. Kratz, 
Educational Publishing Company, Boston, 1907. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 37 

and made the following three tests upon 
743 elementary school pupils: (a) the auditory; 
ip) the visual; {c) and the audo-visual. For the 
first, ten words were used, the letters of which were 
pronounced slowly and distinctly, the pupil being 
required to write immediately the letters named in 
the correct order. In the second test, the words 
were printed on cards and held up for a few moments 
before the pupil, who was then commanded to write 
what he had seen. The children were cautioned 
not to use their lips, but in spite of their efforts to 
inhibit muscular movements they exhibited a strong 
tendency to whisper the letters to themselves. It will 
be remembered that Schiller came upon the same 
important fact. In the audo-visual test appeal was 
made to eye and ear by holding up the card and 
requiring the pupils to repeat the letters in concert. 
Following are the results of these three tests : 

Method Per cent of correct results 

1 Auditory 44.8 

2 Visual 66.2 

3 Audo-Visual 73.7 

Upon these data and others obtained by an ex- 
periment as to the relation of the general power of 
observation to the spelling habit, Mr. Kratz bases 
the following inferences: 



38 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

1 Poor spelling is largely due to inability to picture the word cor- 
rectly in the " mind's eye" and this inability is largely due to careless 
or weak observation. 

2 Defective vision is often a serious handicap. 

3 The average child retains more from visual than from auditory 
impressions. Therefore in the preparation of the spelling lesson we 
must lead him to appeal as strongly as possible to his sense of sight. 

4 In primary grades the spelling lesson should be studied with 
the assistance of the teacher at the blackboard. Words should be 
written, shown for a moment, then erased or hidden while the children 
write. 

5 In all grades teachers should vary the spelling exercises by re- 
quiring about two-fifths of the words to be spelled orally, with syl- 
labication and pronunciation of syllables. 

(6) Edward R. Shaw^ The late Dr. Edward 
R. Shaw repeated the experiments of Kratz about 
the same time that Lay was making his tests in 
Germany. He does not publish a table of results, 
but states that some two thousand children were 
examined with nonsense words. Among his con- 
clusions are these : 

1 The strong tendency of children to use the lips in spelling to 
themselves is significant in suggesting that the motor speech apparatus 
should be turned to use in learning to spell. 

2 Preparation for spelling should be oral, while the final test should 
be written. 

3 Spelling is a matter of association; and the eye, the ear, and the 
motor elements must be appealed to. 

*The Spelling Question in "Three Studies in Education." E. L. 
Kellogg Co., New York, 1899. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 39 

(7) Dr. J. M. Rice In the April and June 
numbers of the Forum for 1897, Dr. Rice published 
the results of an extensive and thorough investigation 
of spelling in twenty-one schools representing every 
section of the United States. Over thirty-three 
thousand children were tested, fifty words being 
given to fourth and fifth year classes, and seventy- 
five words to the sixth, seventh, and eighth year 
classes. He also tested the spelling of many of the 
children by means of a composition based on a 
story prepared for the purpose. Following are the 
words used in the two tests : 

(a) Fourth and fifth years: running, slipped, 
listened, queer, speech, believe, weather, changeable, 
whistling, frightened, always, changing, chain, loose, 
baking, piece, receive, laughter, distance, choose, 
strange, picture, because, thought, purpose, learn, 
lose, almanac, neighbor, writing, language, careful, 
enough, necessary, waiting, disappoint, often, covered, 
mixture, getting, better, feather, light, deceive, 
driving, surface, rough, smooth, hopping, certainly. 

(b) Sixth, seventh, and eighth years : Tne above 
list with the following omitted: because, thought, 
writing, language, feather, light, surface, rough, 
smooth; and the following added: grateful, elegant, 
present, patience, succeed, severe, accident, some- 
times, sensible, business, answer, sweeping, properly, 



40 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

improvement, fatiguing, anxious, appreciate, assure, 
imagine, peculiar, character, guarantee, approval, 
intelligent, experience, delicious, realize, importance, 
occasion, exceptions, thoroughly, conscientious, there- 
fore, ascending, praise, wholesome. 

These words were not dictated in columns, but 
were included in sentences, e. g., "While running 
he slipped. I listened to his queer speech, but I 
did not notice any of it. " 

The schools tested represented every degree of 
excellence, all sorts of methods, all kinds of pupils, 
and many diversities of street and home environment, 
and of nationality. The time devoted to spelling 
in the several schools varied from six minutes a day 
to fifty minutes a day. 

1 The author arrives at the sweeping conclusion 
that none of these things make any difference in the 
spelling. "In brief," he adds, "there is no direct 
relation between method and results. The results 
varied as much under the same as they did under 
different methods of instruction." He says there 
is no clear choice between oral and written spelling 
or between writing isolated words and writing sen- 
tences. Phonic reading does not make bad spellers, 
nor do written language work and wide general 
reading make good spellers. 

2 A second inference made by Dr. Rice, is ex- 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 41 

pressed in the following words: "The facts here 
presented, in my opinion, will admit of only one 
conclusion, viz., that the results are not determined 
by the methods employed, but by the ability of those 
who use them. In other words, the first place 
must be given to the personal equation of the 
teacher, while methods and devices play a subor- 
dinate part. " 

3 Dr. Rice maintains further that with fifteen 
minutes of instruction each day children will 
learn just as much spelling as if they have 
more; and hence anything above this limit is time 
wasted. 

(8) Miss E. K. Carmen ^ Dr. Edward L. 
Thomdyke of Columbia University, in comment- 
ing on the work of Dr. Rice (which upon the 
whole he pronounces excellent), says we may add 
another lesson gained from a mistake of the 
author's. He refers to Dr. Rice's conclusion that 
methods, devices, nationality, environment, quality 
of school, etc., have no causal relation to suc- 
cess in spelling. ''Dr. Rice's desertion of facts 
for opinion," says the critic, "was hasty, for 
there are real causes for good and bad spell- 
ing other than the one he opines" (personal 

' Teachers^ College Record, May, 1901, p. 87. Columbia University 
Press, New York. 



42 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

equation of the teacher). Dr. Thorndyke then 
proceeds to quote from the study of Miss Carmen^ 
to substantiate his contention. This lady started 
with the hypothesis that poor spelling is due to poor 
observation of the words. The subjects of the 
experiment were sixteen adults, all of whom had 
completed a high school course and had spent two 
years more in study. There were eight good spellers 
and eight poor ones. The test was a printed page 
from Appleton's Fourth Reader, containing one 
hundred misspelled words. The subjects were 
asked to go through the paper as quickly as possible 
and mark each misspelled word. The results were 
as follows: 

Time in seconds Words omitted 

Good spellers (average) 130-1 8.9 

Poor spellers (average) 199.6 28.1 

1 Miss Carmen's inference is that ability to spell 
probably implies not a general habit or power of ob- 
servation, but a special ability to notice small dif- 
ferences in words. 

2 Dr. Thorndyke adds: ^^ Whether any specific 
methods can be used in the class-room to secure the 
habit of attention to the spelling of words dur- 
ing reading is still a question. It would seem 
likely. " 

' Journal of Pedagogy, October, 1900. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 43 

3 By way of criticism on Miss Carmen's inference, 
Dr. William H. Burnham says:^ "Miss Carmen is 
probably right in this inference, but a number of other 
factors doubtless contribute to the ability to spell 
well as suggested by the comxplexity of the mental 
process. Whether poor power of observation for 
small differences in words is the cause of the ina- 
bility to spell, or whether improper training in spell- 
ing is one cause of the lack of observation for small 
differences, there is at least an interesting correlation 
here. It is probable, however, that the special 
training in spelling does not contribute to general 
power of observation." Miss Carmen, Dr. Thorn- 
dyke, and Dr. Burnham, therefore agree that Mr. 
Ejratz's inference is erroneous, when he argues that 
"nature study is tending to improve our spelling. "^ 
Dr. Thorndyke3 also calls attention to the fact that 
Miss Wyckoff refers poor spelling to a "quality of 
aatention in general rather than to a particular habit 
of attending to words. " 

(9) Oliver P. Cornman4 Mr. Corman made 
the following kinds of tests : 

' Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 13, p. 498. 

^"Studies and Observations in the School-room," p. 140. Educa- 
tional Publishing Company, Boston, 1907. 

' Teachers' College Record, May, 1901, p. 87. 

^"Spelling in the Elementary Schools." Ginn & Co., Boston, 1902 



44 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

(a) Lists of spontaneously selected words — the largest number 
that could be written in fifteen minutes. 

(b) Lists of specially selected words written in vertical columns 
from the dictation of the teacher. 

(c) Series of short sentences (containing selected words) written 
from the dictation of the teacher. 

(d) Spelling papers of the regular term examination set by the 
superintendent of schools, 

(e) Compositions and other written exercises of the regular school- 
room work. 

(a) The Fifteen-minute Test Only the first of 
these tests was studied with a view to the psychology 
of the subject. Great care was taken to secure 
uniformity of conditions. A simple set of explicit 
directions was prepared and read to the pupils, who 
were told to begin at a given signal and write as many 
words as they could, using any words at all that they 
might happen to think of. These words were written 
in vertical columns, and at the end of fifteen minutes 
the signal to stop was given and the papers were 
collected. The tests were given in June three years 
in succession in the same schools. 

Following is a specimen table, slightly modified, 
showing the kind of results obtained : 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 45 
North West School Fifteen-minute Test June, iSgy 



TABLE I 









Average No. of 


Per cent Spelled 


School 


No. of Pupils 


words per pupil 


Correctly 














Year 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


8th 


33 


46 


245 


212 


95-8 


98 


7th 


26 


28 


239 


186 


95-2 


97-4 


6th 


53 


69 


202 


201 


92.6 


96.8 


Stha 


24 


18 


169 


189 


92.3 


95.8 


5th b 


3« 


31 


163 


132 


94-3 


95 


4th a 


23 


23 


138 


154 


90.1 


94.2 


4th 6 


16 


16 


164 


136 


95-2 


95-3 


Sda 


19 


20 


132 


lor 


91.4 


94.4 


Sdb 


24 


19 


69 


81 


88.1 


92 


Totals 


256 


270 










Average or 






179 


169 


93-4 


96.1 


per cent 















The inferences drawn by Mr. Cornman from a 
series of tables like the above are briefly as follows : 

1 The pupils in the elementary school increase 
regularly from grade to grade in the quantity and 
quality of their spontaneously written words, and in 
accuracy of spelling. 

2 The average results established by this method 
are constant within small limits of variation and 
may be utilized as normals to compare the work of 



46 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

individuals or of classes, under varying pedagogical 
conditions. 

3 The boys show a more rapid rate of movement 
than girls, but the girls excel markedly in legibility 
and correctness of spelling. 

4 The difference of results in the sexes is ac- 
counted for by the conclusion that the boys followed 
the directions "to write as many words as they could." 
They were more interested in the quantity than the 
quality of their productions, while the girls fell short 
of the quantity by their conscientious attention to 
details of execution. These conclusions are sup- 
ported by the fact that the boys had more illegible 
and nonsense words than the girls, and the girls had 
many more careful erasures and substitutions than 
the boys. 

5 The pedagogical corollary may be drawn here 
that boys need training in attention to details, and 
girls require stimulation to the accomplishment of 
larger purposes. 

6 The rate of movement and the accuracy of spell- 
ing tend to vary together, and both are functions 
of general mental capacity. 

(b) Analysis of Errors The examination and 
classification of errors of spelling found in the spon- 
taneously written words of the children is probably 
Mr. Cornman's most valuable contribution to the 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 47 

psychology of spelling. The scheme of classification 
was worked out in the psychological laboratory of 
the University of Pennsylvania by Professor Light- 
ner Witmer, Dr. Oscar Gerson, and Mr. Oliver P. 
Cornman. It was discovered by these investigators 
that the characteristic spelling errors bear an essential 
similarity to the phenomena of aphasia. The general 
type of mental activity is analogous to the function 
of a ganglion with its afferent and efferent nerve- 
attachments. If there is any disorder in the afferent 
nerve, or the sensory elements which convey the 
impulse to the central organ, the ganglion cannot 
perform its proper function. If the difficulty is in 
the efferent nerve, or any of the elements involved in 
motor expression, the ganglionic function is inter- 
rupted. Now, aphasia is the total "inability or 
partial disability of an individual to make outward 
expression of thoughts, feelings, or other states of 
consciousness, whether such disability result from 
interference with the formation of the mental content 
or the emission of it. "^ 

"Spelling is a sensori-mot or habit which expresses 
itself in every concrete instance of the spelling of a 
word as a synthetized motorial reaction following, 
at more or less remote temporal intervals, certain 

^ Collins, Joseph : * * The Faculty of Speech. ' ' Macmillan, New York, 
1898. 



48 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

complicated sensory stimulations."^ Errors in or- 
thography are therefore more instructive than cor- 
rectly spelled words, because they may be viewed as a 
mild form of aphasia. Mr. Cornman's plan of classi- 
fication is based upon the aphasic conception of 
spelling errors : 

TABLE II 



Analytic Classification of 2851 Spelling 


Errors 






(Modified) 










Number of Pupils 


Boys 


251 


Girls 251 




1 


Motor Inco -ordination 




Total, 


Boys and Girls 




I Omission 






409 






2 Addition 






183 






3 Change 






178 






4 M and N 






109 






5 Transposition 






193 






6 Wrong letter doubled 






18 






7 Attraction (S-M) 






150 






8 Attraction (I-M) 






48 






Total 








1288 


II 


9 Complication 








125 


III 


Sensory Inco -ordination 

(a) Phonetic 

10 Standard 

1 1 Local and Individual 

(b) Confusing 

12 ei, ie, or, er, etc. 

13 Doubling 

14 Non -Doubling 
{c)i$ Unclassified 

Total 

Grand Total 






233 
364 

460 

145 
151 

85 


1438 
2851 



' Comman, p. 5. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 49 

(c) Explanation oj Table II. 

Motor Inco-ordination "All those classes of 
errors whose commission seems to have been pre- 
dominantly determined by defect in motor process." 

1 Omission Where one or more links (letters 
or syllables) in the chain of associations are dropped 
out; e.g., hoase (hoarse), Main (Maine), tortose 
(tortoise), sureying (surveying). 

2 Addition "Where one or more supernu- 
merary letters or syllables appear; e.g., wolfe (wolf), 
tarble (table), pianono (piano)." 

3 Change "Where a letter is so incompletely 
formed as to constitute a different letter, or where 
one letter is unaccountably substituted for another; 
e.g., trumb (thumb), crach (crack), sise (six). " 

4 M and N "The confusion of m and n for 
each other is a special case of 3; e.g., swin (swim), 
primpts (prints), Jin (Jim)." 

5 Transposition Where letters or syllables are 
transposed; e.g., aminal (animal), chian (chain), gril 
(girl). 

6 Wrong Letter Doubled This is an error 
related to 5. The doubling is shifted to the wrong 
letter; e.g., speel (spell), dool (doll). 

7 Attraction (Sensori-motor) "A letter or ar- 
rangement of letters in a previously written word calls 
out a similar form where it should not occur; e.g., 



50 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

roap (rope) follows soap; does (clothes) follows 
shoes; or a prominent letter in a word calls out an 
incorrect repetition of that letter or a substitution 
of it for a correct letter in a latter part or syllable of 
the same word; e.g., Missiouri (Missouri), sunsut 
(sunset)." 

8 Attraction {Idea-Motor) ^^A letter or arrange- 
ment of letters in a succeeding word calls out a wrong 
form. Both words have been held together in idea, 
but the order of subscription has not followed the 
order of ideation; e.g., groop (group) precedes troop, 
stateau (statue) precedes plateau." 

9 Complication ^' Those errors which seem 
to be due to a combination of defective functioning of 
both sensorial recall and motorial expression." It 
usually results in a mere jumble of letters; e.g., 
amanole (animal), pienishel (peninsula). 

Sensory Inco-ordination "All those classes 
of errors whose commission seems to have been 
determined by defect in sensory processes, the literal 
association having been improperly formed; or, if 
properly formed, forgotten or changed from the 
conventional order." Of this class of errors there 
are three kinds: Phonetic, Conjusing, Unclassified. 
Of the phonetic class there are two sub-classes (lo 
and ii) and of the confusing class there are three 
sub-classes (12, 13, 14). 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 51 

10 Standard This is a case of phonetic sensory 
inco-ordination ^Svhere the spelling is largely deter- 
mined by phonetic analogies and on the basis of an 
approximately standard pronunciation; e.g., Wens- 
day (Wednesday), scolar (scholar), ismus (isthmus). " 

11 Local and Individual A case of error be- 
longing to the phonetic-sensory-inco-ordination class 
"where a more or less faulty or incorrect pronuncia- 
tion ... is the basis on which the attempt to 
follow phonetic analogy is made; e.g., chimley 
(chimney), hooken-later (hook and ladder), Henery 
(Henry)." 

12 Ei, ie; er, or, etc. Sensory inco-ordination 
of the ''confusing" class has several varieties. One 
arises from the confusion of ie and ei; tion, sion; 
or, ar, er; ey, y; able, ible, etc.; e.^. grammer (gram- 
mar), liley (lily), etc. 

13 Doubling A second species of "confusion" 
is using double letters for single ones; e.g., Hellen 
(Helen), gass (gas), Pannama (Panama). 

14 Non-Doubling The third kind of "con- 
fusion" is the reverse of the preceding, omitting to 
double a letter; e.g., galons (gallons), weding (wed- 
ding). 

15 Unclassified "Includes all those errors not 
treated under any of the other classes; e.g., Scuylkill 
(Schuylkill), handerchief (handkerchief), etc." 



52 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

(d) Inferences Drawn from the Study of Errors. 

1 Boys show a larger percentage (54.8) of motorial 
inco-ordination than girls (44.8). This excess of 
error by defect of motor process on the part of boys 
may be accounted for by the direction of their attention 
to the completion of a word as a whole, while the 
superiority of the girls may conversely be ascribed to 
their care in the formation of each letter. The same 
considerations account for the fact that boys write 
more words than girls, but girls are better spellers. 

2 The practical effect for good of the teaching 
of spelling rules is a question of method, which itself 
needs investigation. 

3 There is no "best method '' of teaching spelling. 
Educational progress has been seriously retarded 
by the exploitation of panacea methods. Oral 
spelling, written spelling, syllabic spelling, "photo- 
graphic" spelling (spelling a word after it has been 
photographed upon the mind by a single glance!), 
have all been severally championed as possessing 
exclusive pedagogic virtue. 

4 "The wise teacher will acquaint herself with 
as many methods and devices as possible, and change 
from one to the other, in order to relieve the tedium 
and meet the needs of individual children," some of 
whom belong to the visual type, some to the auditory, 
some to the motor, and some to the mixed. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 53 

5 The difference in results in spelling would seem 
to lie, not in specific method, but in effectiveness of 
administration, i.e., the personal efficiency of the 
teacher or principal. 

6 The specific spelling lesson, taught, studied, 
and recited in oral or written form, is but a trifling 
proportion of the total stimulation afforded by the 
environmental influences of school, home, and out- 
door life to which the average pupil is subjected. 
In school almost every lesson is contributory to spell- 
ing, and every written or printed word which is seen 
in street advertisement or is met with in home reading 
registers its effect upon the mind of the pupil. 

7 We may regard the complex act of writing 
connected discourse (the ultimate goal of school 
training in spelling) as an entire situation which 
should be departed from in practice as little as pos- 
sible. Hence the spelling lesson should most fre- 
quently take the form of connected written discourse. 

8 "These conclusions indicate the comparative 
unimportance of the spelling drill as contributory 
to accuracy in spelling. " 



IV 

Conclusions Derived From the Nature, 
Value, and Psychology of Spelling 

From the Nature of Spelling 

1 The process of spelling involves a knowledge 
of the following elements: pronunciation, syllabica- 
tion, capitalization, abbreviations, contractions, com- 
pounds, plurals, possessives. 

2 The necessity for spelling arises as soon as the 
child is required to write words and sentences. This 
locates the beginning of spelling in about the second 
year of school. 

3 On account of the oriental origin of our alpha- 
bet, the Norman conquest of England, the variant 
practice of authors and copyists, and the vagaries of 
printers before the era of dictionaries, English orthog- 
raphy is arbitrary; and therefore the speller is assisted 
but slightly by reason and rules. 

4 Spelling is not a culture study, but a necessary 
art, which should be made automatic as soon as pos- 
sible. 

54 



CONCLUSIONS DERIVED 55 

5 Spelling has an important conventional value. 
One receives little credit for being a good speller, 
but is in danger of losing position and prestige for 
being a poor one. 

From the Psychology of Spelling 

6 The knowledge of the derivation of words is 
advantageous in orthography as a means of fixing 
the attention on word forms (Lay, Wyckoff). 

7 According to Lay, the various ways of pre- 
paring a spelling lesson rank in the following order, 
beginning with the most efficacious : 

(i) Copying (with low speaking). 

(2) Spelling orally (loud). 

(3) Seeing (with speech movement — reading.) 

8 In orthography, script spelling books surpass 
printed books: they are about twice as valuable as 
material for sense perception (Lay). 

9 Cultivation of correct pronunciation is of great 
importance for learning orthography (Lay, Smedley). 

10 As much as possible the sense of a word (ap- 
perceptive aid), the pronunciation, and the writing 
must be united, and the motor presentation in writing 
is the determining factor (Lay, Shaw, etc.). 

11 Dictation should be used in spelling only as a 
test (Lay). 



S6 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

12 The so-called copying method, including 
the writing down of sentences from memory, is useful 
since it is most closely related to the orthographic 
practice in common life. 

13 The words for spelling should not be selected 
according to a special system (as per spelling book), 
but should be selected from the lessons of the pupil 
(Lay). 

14 The words presented to the child at first should 
be, as far as possible, phonetic in their spelling, the 
more unusual forms being reserved for later years 
(Smedley). 

15 The spelling of words is made automatic 
through practice in writing them (Smedley). 

16 The average child retains more from visual 
than from auditory impressions (see No. 7). 

17 The strong tendency of children to use the 
lips in spelling to themselves is significant in sug- 
gesting that the motor speech apparatus should be 
turned to use in learning to spell (Shaw; see No. 7). 

18 Spelling is a matter of association, and the 
more clues there are for memory, the better are the 
chances of recall (see No. 7). Hence as many senses 
as possible should be employed in learning to spell. 

19 Results in spelling are determined not so 
much by the methods employed as by the ability of 
those who use them (Rice); in other words, results 



CONCLUSIONS DERIVED 57 

depend chiefly upon effectiveness of administration 
(Cornman). 

20 Ability to spell probably implies not a general 
habit or power of observation, but a special ability 
to notice small differences in words (Carmen). Mr. 
Kratz is therefore wrong when he argues that "nature 
study is tending to improve our spelling." 

21 The pupils in the elementary school increase 
regularly from grade to grade in the quantity and 
quality of their spontaneously written words, and in 
accuracy of spelling (Cornman). 

22 Boys show a more rapid rate of movement 
(in spontaneously written words) than girls, but 
girls excel markedly in legibility and correctness of 
spelling (Cornman). 

23 The rate of movement and accuracy of spelling 
tend to move together, and both are functions of 
general mental capacity (Cornman). 

24 Boys show a larger percentage (54.8) of 
motorial inco-ordination (errors of spelling due to 
motor defect) than girls (44.8). This excess of error 
on the part of boys may be accounted for by the 
direction of their attention to the completion of a word 
as a whole, while the superiority of the girls may be 
ascribed to their care in the formation of each letter 
(Cornman). 

25 The practical effect of the teaching of spelling 



58 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

rules is a question of method, which itself needs 
investigation (Comman; see No. 3). 

26 There is no "best method" of spelling (Com- 
man). 

27 The wise teacher will acquaint herself with as 
many methods and devices as possible, and change 
from one to the other, so as to adapt herself to the 
various types of children; namely, the visual, the 
auditory, the motor, and the mixed (Cornman). 

28 The specific spelling lesson in school is but a 
trifling proportion of the total stimulation afforded 
by the environmental influences of school, home, and 
outdoor life. In school every lesson is contributory to 
spelling, and every written or printed word which is 
seen in street advertisement or home reading registers 
its effect upon the mind of the pupil (Cornman). 

29 We may regard the complex act of writing 
connected discourse (the ultimate goal of school 
training in writing) as an entire situation which 
should be departed from as little as possible. Hence 
the spelling lesson should most frequently take the 
form of connected written discourse (Cornman). 

30 Evidence points to the comparative unimpor- 
tance of the spelling drill as contributory to accuracy 
in spelling (Rice, Cornman). Lay goes so far as to 
say that the traditional spelling lesson should be 
omitted and forbidden by law, on account of the time 
wasted by it. 



V 

Methods of Teaching Spelling 

I The Selection of Words 

The first question that the spelling problem pre- 
sents is the selection of words to be spelled. "What 
shall we spell?" must be answered before "How 
shall we spell ?" This brings us at once face to face 
with the question of the spelling book. 

(i) Aeguments in Favor of the Spelling 
Book The arguments in favor of the spelling 
book are many. Here are a few : 

(a) The spelling book is convenient and syste- 
matic. It presents a ready-made list of words which, 
it is assumed, the children ought to know. "In the 
spelling book and its proper use seems- to rest the 
hope of the coming generation of spellers. Yet too 
many of the spelling books now in use are thrown 
together on no recognizable principle and afford no 
opportunity to the pupil to discover a relation between 
his lesson and his own attainments. What is im- 
portant is that he form the habit of spelling accurately 



6o ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

the words that belong to his range of thought, and 
that he continue the process when he advances to 
higher studies. We may therefore urge that the 
territory to be covered by the spelling course should 
be narrowed as much as possible, and that words 
that offer no difficulty and words that offer too great 
difficuty should alike be weeded out. There remains, 
then, a fundamental vocabulary which belongs to 
everyone who speaks or writes at all. This vocabu- 
lary is not capable of precise delimitation according 
to the school grade of the pupil, but it can be roughly 
determined by co-operative study on the part of 
teachers." ^ 

(&) The author of a spelling-book is more likely 
to possess the intelligence necessary to insure a good 
selection than the average teacher or principal. 

{c) Words selected at random in the schoolroom 
are unsystematic and not graded in the order of 
difl&culty. 

(d) Again, words selected at random to meet the 
demands of the class-room are not likely to meet the 
requirements of later life as well as those selected 
after a discriminating consideration of all the words 
in the language. 

(e) To the foregoing arguments we may add, 

*Wm. E. Mead, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., on "Is 
Spelling a Lost Art?" in Educational Review, Vol. 19, p. 49. 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 6i 

finally, that the children, in copying words into their 
note-books, frequently make mistakes, and thus 
have the wrong form impressed upon the memory. 
Furthermore, this copying consumes no small 
amount of time which might be more profitably 
employed. 

(2) Arguments Against the Spelling Book 
Some of the objections against the spelling book are 
the following: 

(a) The first is that it violates the principle of 
utility. A list of words selected for the average 
child does not satisfy the needs of any child. "I 
look upon the whole business of spelling, as generally 
conducted, to be an enormous waste of time, labor, 
and patience — an unsatisfactory method of gaining 
a very important accomplishment. . . . The 
time for learning to spell words correctly is when 
they are first used and represented to the eye in 
print. '' ^ ''In English, as in everything else, children 
must be taught the rudiments first. Not that I 
would replace the spelling book in its former com- 
manding position in the schools, and compel boys 
and girls to learn long lists of words which they 
would have no occasion to use; but everyone should 
be able to spell the words that are often on his lips, 

' Zalmon Richards, Washington, D. C: "The English Language in 

Elementary Schools," N. E. A., '77, p. 175. 



62 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

or often under his eye in the books he studies or 
reads. "^ 

(b) Such a list also violates the principle of in- 
terest. It is, at least, an open question whether 
words should be taught with a view to future use or 
immediate use. The pupil is not much interested 
in what he will need ten or twenty years hence. 
But he is interested in words that grow out of his 
daily work, that enable him to master the contents 
of the course of study. '' It is very doubtful whether 
the modem spelling book, vv^ith its barren list of 
words made up on the principle of similarity of sound, 
is not the greatest foe of good spelling. The really 
necessary thing is to acquire the habit of taking in 
with the eye the correct spelling of each new word 

as it is presented, and preserving the image in the 
mind. "2 

(c) Most of the spelling books have many words 
that it is not worth while to spell, either because 
they present no difficulty of spelling, or because they 
do not occur in any of the lessons of the pupils. The 
writer learned to spell caoutchouc many years ago in 
the public school, and he has not once had occasion 
to use the word since. He learned hundreds of other 



^^dams Sherman Hill: "Our English," Harper* s, New York, 1889, 
p. 16. 

^ Wm. H. Maxwell: Educational Review, Vol. 3, p. 477. 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 63 

words of like nature. If a child is properly trained 
to use a dictionary he will look up such strange and 
unusual words when he meets them in his reading. 
Hence, their spelling, for the mere sake of drill and 
a possible future contingency, seems to be a waste 
of time. The ordinary spelling book has, at least, 
two useless words for every useful one. 

{d) Finally, it is held by one investigator that 
script spelling books are about twice as valuable as 
printed books for purposes of sense-perception. 
(Prop. 8.) 

(3) Principle of Selection In the light of the 
preceding discussion it is possible to formulate several 
principles which should guide the teacher in the 
selection of spelling words. 

{a) Familiar as to Meaning The first principle 
is that the spelling words should be familiar as to 
meaning. To require children to spell words they 
cannot use is manifestly a waste of time; for the 
only occasion we have for spelling at all is when we 
employ words in written discourse. 

(h) Some Difficulty of Spelling In the second 
place, words in the spelling list should present some 
difficulty of spelling. Their meaning may be already 
known, and, therefore, no time need be devoted to 
their definition and use. To this class belong such 
words as which^ Tuesday, island, physician, giraffe, 



64 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

comby until, cigar, tough, knife. The meaning and 
use list, on the other hand, contains words whose 
meaning (which may be new to the children) must 
be known in order to master the subject matter of 
the grade. They may or may not present difficulties 
of spelling. If they do, both the spelling and the 
meaning must be taught. The class readers in 
literature, geography, and science will supply many 
spelling words. 

Another prolific source for the supply of spelling 
words, as well as for grammatical and dictation 
exercises, is found in the class compositions. Here 
the children reveal their peculiar infirmities, and 
thus the teacher is able to prescribe the specific 
remedies demanded by their case. Every time a 
set of compositions is corrected a sheet of paper 
should be at hand, on which are indicated the com- 
mon errors of spelling, construction, punctuation, and 
the like. The misspelled words should be added to 
the spelling list, while other errors should be kept 
for use during the grammar and dictation periods. 
Of what use is it to a child to be able to spell the 
hundreds of test words found in a printed speller, 
if he cannot write a letter of ten lines without mis- 
spelling a dozen ordinary words which he has occasion 
to use? Many teachers take compositions home 
and laboriously correct the numerous errors found 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 65 

therein. This is all labor in vain unless an effort 
is made in the spelling period and in other language 
exercises to drill the pupils on the forms in which they 
have failed. 

{c) Phonetic Words at First One authority 
who has investigated the psychology of spelling has 
come to the conclusion that the words selected for the 
child's first efforts in spelling should be phonetic in 
character, the more unusual forms being reserved 
for later years (Prop. 14). As this requirement 
follows the law of sequence from the easy to the 
difficult, its observance is in accordance with our 
practice in other subjects. 

2 Principles of Method 

The various principles derived from the psychology 
of spelling will now be discussed in so far as they 
apply to methods of teaching spelling. 

(i) English Spelling Arbitrary The first 
important consideration with respect to English 
spelling is that reason is of slight assistance in the 
process. The present forms of words had their origin 
in many cases in the vagaries of early printers and 
copyists (Prop. 3). The consequence is that no 
rules can be formulated that are not limited by 
numerous and confusing exceptions. On account 



66 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

of these exceptions it is not safe to spell by rule, for 
it is almost impossible to remember for any length 
of time whether a given word one happens to be 
writing is spelled according to the rule, or according 
to the exception. One writer has well said that 
spelling rules are useful chiefly to prove how useless 
they are. It remains an open question, therefore, 
whether it is economical and humane to burden 
the memory of children with these rules, or whether 
spelling is not equally successful without rules. 

(2) Not a General Habit Spelling is pri- 
marily a sensori-motor habit acquired, like any other 
habit of this kind, by repeated motor reaction to 
certain sensory stimuli. The motor images of sepa- 
rate letters are learned in the first writing lessons. 
The combination of the writing-movement images 
of separate letters into motor images of syllables and 
words is the germ of all instruction in spelling. This 
is a very complicated process. Numerous sets of 
muscles must act in harmony, in a definite sequence, 
with definite strength, rapidity, and accuracy. As 
Miss Carmen has shown (Prop. 20), the power to 
spell is not a general habit, but a special ability. 
We cannot improve spelling by introducing nature 
study to train the observation, any more than we can 
learn to ride a bicycle by practice in skating, or learn 
percentage by drill on square root. In order to learn 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 67 

anything we must exercise the particular mental 
and physical functions involved in that thing, rather 
than some other functions. In other words, the way 
to learn to spell is to spell. 
(3) Preparation of the Lesson. 

(a) Pronunciation Cultivation of correct pro- 
nunciation is of great importance in learning to 
spell (Prop. 9). 

(b) Syllabication It has been suggested that 
the pronunciation of certain syllables in oral spelling 
is an aid to the memory. In presenting the word in 
written or printed form it may likewise be an advan- 
tage to exhibit the syllables. This should be done 
by widening the space between syllables rather than 
by the use of the hyphen. The hyphen has a distinct 
use in hyphenated compounds and in cases where 
a part of a word is carried to the line below. To 
use the hyphen in syllabication leads to confusion. 
y (c) Derivation A knowledge of the derivation 
of words is advantageous in orthography as a means 
of fixing the attention on word forms (Prop. 6). In 
fact, the Vv^iter depends far more on his knowledge 
of derivation than on his knowledge of rules. The 
key to the double r in Mediterranean is terra; the 
double n in centennial comes from annus. Separate 
is never troublesome after you know that it comes 
from paratus. 



68 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

(d) Visual vs. Auditory Images Many authori- 
ties agree in the conclusion that the average child 
retains more from visual than from auditory impres- 
sions (Prop. 1 6). In teaching little children to spell, 
therefore, more is accomplished by exhibiting the 
written or printed form of the word than by the oral 
presentation of the spelling. Lay says the visual 
image is three times as valuable as the sound image, 

(e) The Copying Method After experiment 
with many forms of presentation, Lay comes to the 
conclusion that copying, with low speaking, is the 
most efficacious. According to this plan the child 
prepares his spelling lesson by copying the words and 
saying over the letters softly to himself at the same 
time. Next in order of merit is saying the letters 
over to one's self in a loud voice without writing. 
The third in order of merit is seeing the letters, with 
speech movement (Prop. 7). The so-called copy- 
ing method, including the writing down of sentences 
from memory, is useful because it is most closely 
related to the orthographic practice of common life 
(Prop. 12). 

(/) Motor Images 0} Speech The strong ten- 
dency of children to use the lips in spelling to them- 
selves is significant in suggesting that the motor 
speech apparatus should be turned to use in learning 
to spell (Prop. 17). In all the experiments recorded 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 69 

by Lay, Shaw, Kratz, and others, the results of other 
methods were uniformly better when accompanied 
by speech than without the use of speech. 

(g) Automatic Through Writing Since spelling 
is essentially a motor habit, it is made automatic 
through practice in writing (Prop. 15). The only 
use we make of spelling is when we are writing. 

(h) Combination 0} Senses It is evident from 
the preceding discussion that a combination of senses 
in learning to spell is more effective than the use of 
any single sense. The sight is more valuable than 
hearing; the motor image of speaking and the motor 
image of writing are very important. Why not com- 
bine all these elements, if possible, in a single process ? 
Spelling is a matter, psychologically, of association, 
and the more clues there are for memory, the better 
are the chances of recall (Prop. 18). 

(i) Connected Discourse We may regard the 
complex act of writing connected discourse as an 
entire situation which should be departed from as 
little as possible. Hence the spelling lesson should 
most frequently take the form of connected written 
discourse (Prop. 29). "Spelling can be best taught 
from the sentence, which gives to words meaning and 
life. Greater stress should be laid upon the written 
expression of thoughts, either from dictation, or 
from memory, or as original spelling; and the pupil's 



70 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

vocabulary should be extended in such direction as to 
enable him to use, spell and write words seen or 
required in his daily exercise. " ^ 

This procedure has the added advantage of en- 
abling us to teach the meaning and use of words 
(along with spelling), by the natural or inductive 
method. By copying, studying, and writing from 
dictation selections from the best authors, the pupil 
learns meanings from the context and at the same 
time increases the power to put his own thoughts 
into clear and pertinent language. A number of 
spelling books embodying this principle have been 
published. The following exercise is quoted from 
one of these : ^ 

^^The first set of teeth, twenty in number, is de- 
veloped between the ages of six months and three 
years. The second, or permanent set, commences 
to replace the first at the age of six or seven. The 
names of the teeth are incisors, canines, bicuspids, 
molars, or grinders. The wisdom teeth do not 
usually appear until the twenty-first year of life. " 

Another dictation-spellers presents the lesson 
in the form of a quotation from a standard author. 

* Edgar A. Singer, Philadelphia: "What Constitutes a Practical 
Course of Study?" N. E. A., '80, p. 120. 

^ Campbell's Reading Speller. Taintor Bros. & Co., New York, 188 j!. 

^"Dictation Day by Day." Kate Van Wagenen. Macmillan, 
New York, 1909. 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 71 

(y) No "Best Method'' There is no ''best 
method" of teaching spelling (Prop. 26). The wise 
teacher will acquaint herself with as many methods 
and devices as possible, and change from one to the 
other, so. as to adapt herself to the various types of 
children; to wit, the visual, the auditory, the motor, 
and the mixed (Prop. 27). 

(k) Homonyms Professor Burnham ^ has shown 
that in teaching spelling it is important to avoid 
interference of association. The process of writing 
words involves a very complicated set of mental and 
physical activities, such as concepts, images of form, 
images of movement, conflicts, motives, decisions, 
etc., and, therefore, interference is liable to occur. 
Examples are the noun advice, and the verb advise; 
principle, a rule of conduct, and principal, a person. 
In the teaching of homonyms, it is usual to present 
them simultaneously. The result is likely to be 
interference of association. The similarities, which 
are supposed to assist the memory, are in reality a 
source of confusion. It is recommended, therefore, 
that each one of a pair of homonyms be presented 
apart from the other, so that the peculiar spelling 
may be thoroughly associated with the meaning. 

(4) The Test After the lesson has been pre- 

* Pedagogical Seminary ^Yol. 13, p. 439: "The Hygiene and Psychol- 
ogy of Spelling." 



7^ ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

pared, either in class, with or without the teacher's 
assistance, or at home, it is usual to test the pupil to 
find out whether he can spell the words he studied. 
The usual form of the test is the dictation; and this 
may consist of column spelling or sentence writing. 
Mr. Cornman has found that the smallest average 
variation in spelling tests appears in written language. 
Lists of test words give more variable results, the 
widest variation being brought out by the examina- 
tion papers officially prescribed as a test for the 
promotion of pupils. This is easily accounted for 
by the fact that such test words are arbitrarily selected 
by the examiner, sitting at a distance, without refer- 
ence to the particular words that may have been 
taught in the different schools. It is an assumption 
that a pupil of a given age ought to know the words 
specified. If the words happen to belong to the 
pupil's vocabulary, he may be able to spell them; if 
they are entirely new, he guesses at their spelling; 
and as English spelling is without law and seldom 
phonetic, he generally guesses wrong. In view of 
the fact that arbitrarily selected exercises in dictation 
and spelling introduce the very variable factor of the 
judgment of the examiner, Mr. Cornman has come 
to the conclusion that a method of basing the estima- 
tion of proficiency in spelling upon the pupil's written 
language would be a more equitable way of meeting 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 73 

the demand for examination data. The objection 
to dictation, however, would not hold in the case of a 
teacher or principal dictating words previously 
assigned for spelling. But the spelling in the pupil's 
original composition is not altogether a safe guide 
for the estimation of his spelling ability, for the reason 
that he avoids spelling difficulties by substituting 
words which he can spell. ^ 

{a) Teaching and Testing A confusion exists 
among teachers as to the functions of teaching and 
testing. Much of so-called teaching is nothing but 
testing. Both of these processes are indispensable, 
but we cannot substitute one for the other. You 
teach a pupil when you give him a method of ac- 
quiring knowledge or power or skill ; when you help 
him to memorize, or to think, or to plan, or to con- 
struct. You test him when you try to find out how 
well he has succeeded in his learning, how much he 
remembers, how accurately he thinks, or how intelli- 
gently he plans and constructs. When a teacher 
writes ten problems on the board, and then sits back 
in his chair while the class solve the problems, he is 

^ The following anecdote is an illustration of the point: 

A Good Substitute — Jimmy had his weak points as an example of 
the result of modem educational methods, but his brain was of excellent 
quality. 

When the teacher looked at him and inquired, coldly, "What is a 
synonym, James ? " he was ready with his answer. 

"It's a word that you can use when you don't know how to spell the one 
you thought of first, " he replied, cheerfully. 



74 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

not teaching, but testing the knowledge and skill of 
the children. 

So, when one dictates a column of words to be 
spelled, he is merely testing, not teaching. What is 
called ^^ hearing lessons'^ is usually testing what has 
been learned out of a book. Composition writing, 
under the guidance of a skillful teacher, is teaching. 
If the subject has been simply assigned and the chil- 
dren do all the work without suggestion or plan from 
the teacher, there is manifestly no teaching in the 
exercise. Dictation is a method of testing how well 
certain formal elements of written language have been 
mastered by the pupils. To develop or explain the 
meaning of a word is teaching; using the word in an 
original sentence is a test to see whether the meaning 
is properly understood by the pupil. The younger 
the child the more teaching and the less testing is 
required. In the first years of school life the pupil 
does so little for himself, especially in graded schools, 
that all the necessary testing may be done simul- 
taneously with the teaching. As the pupil grows 
older he should also grow in self-dependence. The 
teaching partakes more and more of suggestion, and 
planning, and guiding, while the pupil is compelled 
to work out his own results. Hence, the test is neces- 
sary that we may know how faithful and successful 
he has been in accomplishing the task set for him. 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 75 

In the secondary school this self-reliance becomes 
still more prominent, the pupil being compelled to do 
a larger share of the work at home, and thus each 
recitation is largely a test. 

In collegiate and university instruction, the sug- 
gestive and guiding phase of teaching becomes still 
more prominent. The professor lectures; then the 
pupil is sent to the library and the laboratory, where 
he must work out his own salvation. The results 
are shown in the form of notebooks, themes, theses, 
and the like, all of which are methods of testing the 
acquisition of knowledge and power. 

The test is not to be despised at any stage. It is 
to teaching what reaping is to sowing. He who 
teaches and never tests cannot possibly know whether 
his sowing ever brings forth fruit. He who tests and 
never teaches is reaping where he has not sown, 
and is sure to come to grief. 

(5) Spelling a Sign of General Pedagogical 
Health In order to ascertain what relation 
exists between the specific spelling drill and accuracy 
of spelling, Mr. Cornman decided to abandon the 
use of the spelling book and home spelling lessons 
in the Northwest School in Philadelphia, of which 
he was principal, and also to omit from the school 
program the period which had been devoted to spell- 
ing. All teaching in spelling was done incidentally. 



-^ 



76 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

This does not mean that spelling was totally ne- 
glected. ^* Words liable to be misspelled were placed 
conspicuously before the pupils when they were en- 
gaged upon an exercise in which the words were likely 
to occur; pupils were taught to appeal, when in doubt, 
to the teacher and to the dictionary, and mistakes 
in written work were corrected as far as possible. " 

By numerous elaborate and varied tests the North- 
west School was compared during a period of three 
years with the schools where the regular spelling 
drill prevailed. Mr. Cornman's inferences from 
this study are, briefly, as follows: 

{a) The spelling result is a function of the general 
pedagogical health of the class. Given a class 
making fair progress in its general work, and its 
spelling result, as measured by a composition testj 
may be predicted with scientific accuracy, no matter 
w^hat the daily procedure in spelling may have been. 

(b) The Northwest School, during the three 
years in which the specific spelling drill was sus- 
pended, neither gained nor lost appreciably in spelling 
proficiency. 

(c) The percentage of correctness of spelling for 
pupils of any school grade is a fairly constant quantity 
for the grade, whether the basis of comparison be 
written connected discourse or spontaneously written 
words. 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 77 

{d) The degree of general mental development, 
as measured by the school grade of the pupil, is the 
most important factor in accuracy of spelling. 

(6) Individual Differences The principle 
stated in the preceding paragraph is modified by the 
fact that children differ in their natural ability to 
spell as they differ in other talents. Some are fond 
of mathematics and find no difiQculty in mastering 
it; others acquire a knowledge of mathematics only 
after the most discouraging and most laborious 
efforts. Professor Thorndyke^ presents the fol- 
lowing as an example of differences in spelling 
ability between two pupils in same grade and 
class ; 



A 


B 


greatful 


gratful 


elegant 


eleagent 


present 


present 


patience 


paisionce 


succeed 


suckseed 


severe 


su'Tvere 


accident 


axadent 


sometimes 


sometimes 


sensible 


sensible 


business 


biusness 


answer 


anser 


sweeping 


swepinge 


properly 


prooling 



* "The Principles of Teaching," E. L. Thomdyke. A. G. Sailer, 
New York, 1906. 



78 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



improvement 


improvement 


fatiguing 


fetging 


anxious 


anxchus 


appreciate 


appresheating 


assure 


ashure 


imagine 


amagen 


praise 


prasy 



In general, this principle of individual difference 
may be illustrated by saying that if the weakest 
pupil in the class can do five problems in ten minutes 
the best pupil will do at least twenty. While the 
poorest speller picks out fourteen mispelled words 
in a given passage, the best pupil picks out ninety- 
four. In a word, the best pupil in a class will have 
in any one trait an ability from two to five times as 
great as the poorest pupil. 

(7) Spelling Drill The investigations of 
Rice and Cornman point to the comparative unim- 
portance of the spelling drill as contributory to 
accuracy in spelling. Lay goes so far as to say that 
the traditional spelling lesson should be omitted 
and even forbidden by lav/, on account of the time 
wasted by it (Prop. 30). Cornman does not go so 
far as Lay in his attack upon the spelling drill, as we 
see by the following paragraph: 

"To remain strictly within the evidence gathered 
•by this investigation, it must be admitted that there 
may be teachers of surpassing ability who can obtain 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 79 

more than the average results by the method of the 
specific spelling drill, and other teachers of meaner 
ability who need the drill to bring their pupils up 
to the level of this average result. " 

Rice's conclusion with reference to the uselessness 
of the spelling lesson is modified by the fact that he 
has, since his investigation, written a series of spelling 
books for the elementary school. 

{a) Incidental Spelling The Committee of Ten 
says bluntly that ''spelling should be learned inci- 
dentally, in connection with every subject studied, 
and not from a spelling book." The Committee 
of Fifteen recommends ''that selected lists of words 
difficult to spell be made from the reading lessons 
and mastered by frequent writing and oral spelling 
during the fourth, fifth, and sixth years. " 

The question here arises, \Vhat is meant by "in- 
cidental spelling?" According to the dictionary, 
incidentally means "without intention, casually, 
collaterally, beside the main design. " The writer's 
experience of many years in the office of principal 
and of superintendent has convinced him that inci- 
dental teaching in the sense of "without intention, 
casually," is equivalent to no teaching. A class of 
necessity has a definite program, wherein a certain 
number of minutes are devoted to this, that, and the 
other exercise. Incidentals have no definite time 



8o ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

allowance, consequently the attention they receive is 
at best spasmodic, desultory, haphazard. Under 
such circumstances it is idle to expect satisfactory re- 
sults-. In a school of fifty classes, perhaps twenty per 
cent of the children would learn to spell under such 
a system; the rest would not. And on examination 
it would doubtless be found that the small number 
of teachers who are successful do their work sys- 
tematically rather than incidentally. 

Incidentally has for one of its meanings "collater- 
ally. " This is probably the sense in which the word 
is usually employed in connection with spelling. 
From this point of view incidental spelling would 
mean spelling in correlation with other subjects of 
the course of study, such as composition, reading, 
geography, history, and science. The principle of 
correlation is an important one, and is applicable 
to all school work. But it has its limitations. Com- 
plete correlation is liable to result in superficial and 
vague impressions ; and this defect can only be cured 
by a certain amount of isolation. My opinion is 
that spelling should appear as spelling on the teacher's 
program and in the child's consciousness. 

A further objection to incidental spelling is the 
fact that by this plan the child learns to spell only 
the words employed in the course of study. It 
makes no provision for the development of a general 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 8i 

vocabulary adapted to the needs of life after school 
days are over. 

There is still further objection to the proposal to 
teach spelling only in connection with other subjects. 
Children do not successfully attend to more than 
one thing at a time. If they undertake to keep 
several subjects under observation at once, there is 
alternation of attention, accompanied by more or 
less confusion of impression, and consequent weak- 
ness of memory and lack of vital reaction. It is 
asserted that children spell just as well in schools 
where no separate spelling drills are conducted as in 
schools where such drills are had. Spelling lessons 
are therefore declared to be a waste of time and a 
mortal pedagogical sin. On this point I quote a very 
competent psychologist:^ 

"The wide application of the doctrine of 'in- 
cidental learning' is a case in point. [He is speaking 
of the difference between habit formation and judg- 
ment.] This doctrine assumed that 'content' and 
'form' could be acquired simultaneously; or, to put 
it in another way, that form could be acquired in- 
cidentally while attention is fixed upon 'thought' 
or 'content.' This assumption is a direct violation 
of the law of habit; the child can never become 
proficient in form without many distinct acts of 

' Bagley: "The Educative Process," p. 123. Macmillan, 1905. 



82 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

attention dealing with form alone. It may be that 
the child will learn to spell without spelling lessons as 
such; that he will 'absorb' the form of written and 
printed words while he is reading interesting stories 
or writing essays and compositions. But if this is 
ever true, it is because attention has been divided, 
now being concentrated upon the form, now upon the 
content, and flitting from one to the other as the 
exigencies of the task have demanded. " 

(h) Every Lesson a Spelling Lesson It is un- 
doubtedly true that the specific spelling lesson in 
school is but a trifling proportion of the total stimu- 
lation offered by the environmental influences of 
school, home, and outdoor life. Every lesson is 
contributory in some degree to spelling, even if no 
mention be made of the subject. Every written or 
printed word which is seen in street advertisements 
or home reading registers its effect upon the mind 
of the pupil (Prop. 28). Moreover, even where 
a daily spelling lesson as such is conducted, some 
attention should be paid to orthography in all 
branches. It is not amiss to ask pupils to spell the 
new words with which they meet in arithmetic, geo- 
graphy, grammar, history, science, and reading. 
In some schools where the departmental system of 
teaching is employed, it has been the practice to 
hold each teacher responsible for the spelling of the 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 83 

terms that occur in the subject taught by him. Thus 
every teacher becomes a spelling teacher, and the 
pupil is not allowed to grow careless in his spelling 
in any part of his school work. 

(c) The Dictionary Habit One essential ele- 
ment in the spelling equipment to which the pupil 
is entitled when he graduates from an elementary 
school is the dictionary habit, i.e., the habit of going 
to the dictionary when he is in doubt as to any feature 
of word study, be it spelling, punctuation, syllabica- 
tion, derivation, or what not. In order to develop 
such a habit, systematic drills are necessary. From 
the beginning of the sixth year, every pupil should 
possess a dictionary; which should be on his desk 
each school day. In order that the dictionary may 
be of use as a standard of pronunciation, the pupil 
must be thoroughly familiar with the meaning of 
diacritical marks. I have frequently had children 
copy the pronunciation upon the board, with the 
marks employed in the dictionary, and even then 
they were unable to pronounce the word. 

The important point to be emphasized in this 
connection is the demand that a habit of relying upon 
the dictionary to resolve doubts shall be formed. 
Many devices that serve to stimulate interest in 
dictionary work may be employed. Exercises of 
this sort must never be allowed to become mechanical 



84 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

grinds. It would be, for instance, a crime for a 
teacher to assign so many words as a home-lesson, 
the children being required to copy the definitions 
out of a dictionary into a note-book. Occasionally 
word-hunting may take the form of a game. A 
word is given, and the object is to see who can find 
it in the dictionary first. Or a word may be mispro- 
nounced, as arctic, for instance, and the teacher 
says, "Get your dictionaries; when you are prepared 
to give me the correct pronunciation, stand. " Then, 
again, the game may be to find out how many words 
can be looked up in a given time, or how long it will 
take to look up a given number of words. 

By the time the pupil gets into the highest ele- 
mentary grades and into the high school he should 
have the habit of requiring every strange word to 
give an account of itself before he passes it. 

(8) Spelling and Supervision Results in 
spelling are determined not so much by the methods 
employed as by the ability of those who use them; 
that is, results in spelling as well as in other subjects, 
depend largely upon effectiveness of administration 
(Prop. 19.) Every supervisor of school work knows 
that the quality of the product in any study depends 
more upon the skill of the teacher than the time given 
to the subject. One finds schools where the usual 
amount of time is allotted to reading, yet the children 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 85 

cannot read. Unless the subject be intelligently 
supervised the results will be poor, in spite of the 
daily reading lesson. The same is true of spelling. 
A thoroughly competent teacher will accomplish 
more in ten minutes than a novice can do in an hour. 

Then again, good spelling is largely a matter of 
standard. Probably the majority of teachers have 
daily lessons in spelling without ever thinking to 
inquire what degree of success they achieve. They 
assign a stated number of new words each day to be 
studied at home by the children. The next day 
they dictate these words and correct the papers, taking 
note of the errors of individual pupils, but not stop- 
ping to calculate the percentage of correct results 
for the entire class. They imagine they are doing 
good work when, as a matter of fact, the results are 
ridiculously poor. I have known many teachers 
who, when told that thirty or forty per cent of the 
words dictated to the class, were misspelled, thought 
the results were quite satisfactory. The first requisite 
of good spelling in a school is the establishment of a 
high standard by the principal, and a persistent 
endeavor on the part of every teacher to live up to the 
standard. The average result of the daily spelling 
drill in any class should be regarded as unsatisfactory 
if it is less than from ninety to ninety-five per cent. 

The following testimony of Superintendent C, N. 



86 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

Kendall^ as to the manner in which he improved 
the spelling in New Haven, illustrates the relation of 
supervision to spelling-efficiency. 

(a) "Increased interest and attention on the part 
of the teachers to the subject; there has been more 
variety in the instruction than formerly. 

(b) The teaching of common words only, and 
not of the uncommon ones which the child would 
never have occasion to write outside of school. 

(c) The use of a spelling blank-book, in which 
a daily record of the pupil's work for the year is kept, 
thus affording opportunity for intelligent review of 
the words the pupil needs to review." 

When Mr. Cornman abolished the regular spelling 
drill in the school for three years, the subject was by 
no means neglected. If the truth were known, it 
might even transpire that he and his teachers did 
more to stimulate interest in spelling while they 
taught it informally than they had done before. Dur- 
ing these three years of experiment the subject must 
ever have been present in Mr. Cornman's thoughts. 
He may have been anxious to prove Dr. Rice's con- 
tention, which had recently been published in the 
Forum^ that results in spelling have nothing to do 
with the amount and kind of drilling that is devoted 
to the subject. While, therefore, the Northwest 

* Educational Review, Vol. XIV, p. 409. 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 87 

School had no spelling-period on the program, spell- 
ing was probably more systematically and intelligently 
taught and supervised than it ever had been 
before. 

3 The Time Allowance 

Rice and Cornman conclude that the amount of 
time devoted to the specific spelling drill bears no 
discoverable relation to the result. In the nineteen 
cities whose spelling was tested by Rice, the time 
varied from six to fifty minutes a day. The results 
were no better where fifty minutes were employed, 
than where only six were used. He thinks any 
school that devotes more than fifteen minutes a day 
to spelling is wasting time. If this be so, what shall 
we say of the conditions described in the following 
paragraph, written in 1877 ? 

''It has been calculated that on an average an 
hour a day, for ten years, between six and sixteen, is 
spent upon this accomplishment. Of what use can 
spelling be to one who cannot use the words which 
he has learned to spell ? If the first elements of spell- 
ing have been properly taught, a student's spelling 
will keep pace with his reading; he can probably 
spell all the words he can use intelligently, and what 
need has he of more?"^ 

* President M. A. Newell, N. E. A., Louisville, Ky., 1877, P- ^<^' 



88 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDlt 

The Committee of Fifteen recommends four 
periods a week for spelling during the fourth, fifth, 
and sixth years, aggregating eighty minutes in the 
fourth year, and one hundred minutes in the fifth and 
sixth years. In a recent investigation of spelling 
in my own district, I discovered that the average 
time in minutes devoted to word study by my twenty- 
five schools is as follows : 

Subject Year Average 

1-2345678 

Spelling 100 90 70 60 50 40 40 = 60 

Meaning and Use 25 25 25 25 30 = 25 

Derivation 20 20 20 20 = 20 



Total 100 90 95 105 95 85 90 = 105 

These averages fall within the limits set by Rice 
and the Committee of Fifteen so far as the length of 
the daily period is concerned. But the total school 
time devoted to spelling is far greater in the New 
York schools than in the Fifteen's program. We be- 
gin to spell in the second year and continue for seven 
years. The Committee of Fifteen begins in the 
fourth year and ends in the sixth. My own opinion 
is that spelling should not only continue through 
the seventh and eighth years, where the pupil meets 
with so many new words which he must learn to use, 
but that even in the high school the need for some 
sort of spelling exercises still exists. 



VI 

The Meaning and Use of Words 

Words are the soul's ambassadors, who go 
Abroad upon her errands to and fro; 
They are the sole expounders of the mind, 
And correspondence keep 'twixt all mankind. 

— James Howell 

I The Function of Words 

Someone has defined reading as the conversion 
of sights into sounds. This statement is very wide 
of the whole truth. So long as a word calls up a 
sound as its only response it is an end in itself, and 
does not serve its highest purpose as a link in the 
chain of indirect reactions. *^ Words are of value 
only when they arouse something more than articula- 
tions; they must arouse ulitmately reactions appro- 
priate to their remoter meanings."^ The immediate 
function of words is to carry some idea or emotion. 
In this sense they are ambassadors of the mind, that 
go "abroad upon her errands to and fro." They 
bring to us of the present, not merely the thoughts 

'Judd: "Genetic Psychology for Teachers," p. 262. Appleton, 
J^ew York, 1903. 

89 



90 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

of our contemporaries, but messages of days long 
past, so that what Moses has done and Socrates has 
thought we may know through these expounders of 
the mind. The culture function of education is to 
bring the child into full possession of language in 
order that he may get wisdom from the experiences 
of others. The word is the key to this wisdom. 
''Perhaps," says LowelP, ''it will be found that 
the telephone, of which we are so proud, cannot 
carry human speech so far as Homer and Plato 
have contrived to carry it with their simpler appli- 



ances." 



The ultimate function of the word is to beget some 
appropriate reaction. The final destination of every 
thought and emotion carried by words is expression 
through one or another of the several modes at our 
command. "No truth, however abstract, is ever 
perceived, that will not probably at some time in- 
fluence our earthly action. You must remember 
that, when I talk of action here, I mean action in the 
widest sense. I mean speech, I mean writing, I 
mean yeses and noes, and tendencies 'from' things, 
and tendencies 'toward' things, and emotional deter- 
minations ; and I mean them in the future as well as 
in the immediate present. As I talk here, and you 
listen, it might seem as if no action followed. You 

^ Essay on Gray. 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS 91 

might call it a purely theoretic process, with no 
practical result. But it must have a practical result. 
it cannot take place at all and leave your conduct 
unaffected. #fr not to-day, then on some far future 
day, you wT answer some question differently by 
reason of what you are thinking now. Some of you 
will be led by my words into new veins of inquiry, into 
reading special books. These will develop your 
opinion, whether for or against. That opinion will 
in turn be expressed, will receive criticism from 
others in your environment, and will affect your 
standing in their eyes. We cannot escape our 
destiny."^ 

Sometimes the intermediate phase of thought, 
emotion, judgment, or reflection is almost entirely 
eliminated, and the word becomes the direct cue to 
an action. Huxley has a story which well illustrates 
this point. A practical joker, seeing a discharged 
veteran carrying home his dinner, suddenly called 
out, ''Attention!" whereupon the m.an instantly 
brought his hands down, and lost his mutton and 
potatoes in the gutter. £The drill had been thorough 
and its effect had become embodied in the man's 
nervous structure. ^ 

'William James: "Talks to Teachers," p. 26. Holt & Co., New 
York, 1899. 

2 "Elementary Lessons in Physiology," Lesson XII. 



92 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

2 The Nature of Definition 

A very competent authority gives the following 
exposition of the process of finding the content of 
words :^ 

"The natural way of discovering the meaning of a 
word in our language is the method of induction. 
We hear a word, e.g., oppression, repeated, in a 
certain context, in such a way as to give us, as we 
think, some approximate notion of its meaning, say, 
violence; then we hear it again in a different context, 
and perceive that it cannot mean exactly violence; 
it seems to mean injustice; but again some further 
mention of the word makes it evident that though 
oppression is always unjust, yet it is not identical with 
injustice. If we live in a society where the word is 
often and correctly used, or if we read the works of 
accurate authors, we shall in course of time arrive 
at its exact meaning. This process of rejection may 
be technically called elimination. The process by 
which, by introducing the different instances in which 
a word occurs, we arrive at the meaning which the 
word has in every instance, is called ^The Method 
of Induction. ' " 

It is evident from the above analysis that defini^ 
tions which are inductively inferred from the use 

* " English Lessons for English People, " Edwin A. Aljbott and J. R. 
Sccley, London, 1883. 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS 93 



of terms are at first inaccurate. The error consists 
in making the connotation too large. The correc- 
tion consists in limiting the meaning. Now, the 
Latin definere means to limit or fix the boundary. 
The mental process of definition, therefore, is the pro- 
gressive elimination of qualities that do not belong to 
a concept. 




(i) Illustration A young child plays with a 
sheep dog. He hears others call this thing a dog. 
A dog then for him has the following attributes: 

{a) Runs about. 

{h) Has four legs. 

(c) Barks. 

{d) Is larger than himself. 

(e) Has a brownish coat. 

'Modified from Dexter and Garlick's "Psychology in the School- 
room." Longmans, 1898. 



94 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

The term at this stage is represented by the square 
"a" in the diagram. He next sees a retriever, 
while the sheep-dog is present. He hears the re- 
triever called "dog" and notes that it 

(a) Runs about. 

(b) Has four legs. 
{c) Barks. 

{d) Is larger than himself. 
{e) Has a black coat. 

There is a temporary confusion, and the result that 
item {e) is eliminated, and the square "&" repre- 
sents "dog" at the second stage of development. 

The child now sees a spaniel, hears it called "dog, " 
and notes that it 

{a) Runs about. 

{h) Has four legs. 

{c) Barks. 

{d) Is smaller than himself. 

There is confusion again, with a resulting elimina- 
tion of item (d), and the square "c" represents "dog" 
at the third stage. 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS 95 
3 Relation of Language-Teaching to Knowledge-Teaching 

What do we imply when we speak of teaching the 
meaning of words? Alexander Bain answers this 
question in the following passage : 

"Knowledge of things should always keep ahead of the knowledge 
of terms. ^ The more we inquire into the early teaching of language 
the more shall we find it to be in great part the teaching of knowledge 
under difficulties. The child is soon brought into the situation of hav- 
ing to comprehend consecutive speech, many parts of which are devoid 
of meaning. But to explain the words that are blank to the mind, we 
have first to bring before the view things that have hitherto been en- 
tirely unknown. We have to communicate a knowledge lesson, sup- 
plemented by a verbal lesson, the first being by far the more serious of 
the two. If the teacher can but compass the knowledge difficulties, 
he does not need any extraordinary efforts or any refined methods for 
securingtheadherenceof the verbal expression." . . . "The best 
form of introducing a fact would be its real occurrence . . . 
but listening to talk and book-reading bring forward many things 
without any reference to their actual presentation; and then some 
way of introducing them has to be found; the task being in many 
instances premature and impossible." 

"It has already been noted that the explanation of newly-occurring 
terms is for the most part thing-knowledge. When the word 'slave' 
is presented for the first time, an explanation of the state of slavery is 
provided, whereby a new idea is imparted to the pupil. This is in no 
sense a word lesson, although the recurrence of a word is the occasion 
for teaching the thing. If the pupil has had prior experience of things 
without knowing their names, to give the name is a language lesson: 
this situation is not so frequent as the other. " 

^ From " Education as a Science. " 



96 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

4 How Words Get Meaning 

A number of important investigations have been 
made in an effort to discover what kind of content 
children have for the words they use. 

Below will be found a brief account of the principal 
studies that have been published on this phase of 
word study. 

(i) The Beexin Investigation^ In October, 
1869, The Berlin Pedagogical Verein issued a cir- 
cular inviting teachers to investigate the individuality 
of children entering city schools so far as such in- 
dividuality was represented by ideas of common 
objects. The children were questioned on seventy- 
five different objects selected from their environment. 
Following are a few specimens of the words employed 
and the number of children in 10,000 that had con- 
tent for the term used: dwelling, 9026; rainbow, 
7770; cube, 6957; moon, 6215; frog, 5085; triangle, 
4182; City Hall, 3615; squirrel, 3579; village, 3374; 
museum, 3222; mushroom, 2855; plough, 2036; dew, 
2364; lake, 2078; willow, 1667; sleet, 2493; hare, 2466; 
birch, 1318; river, 1122; botanical garden, 527. 

No very definite conclusions bearing upon our 
problem are drawn from this study, except the follow- 
ing: 

^ Vorstellingskreis der Berlin Kinder beim Eintritt in die Schule, pp. 
59-7 7 . Berlin Stddtisches Jahrhnch, 1870. 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS 97 

(a) The content of children's vocabularies is in- 
fluenced to a very large extent by their environments 
out of school. Thus, only 18 per cent of the children in 
the schools of a German city had seen the sun rise, 
while 42 per cent of children in the country districts 
had seen the same. 

(b) Kindergarten children have a better content 
for words than those that come directly from home 
to the grades. Thus, out of 10,000 German kinder- 
garten children, 7032 knew a swan, while of 10,000 
children from families only 5976 knew the bird. 

(c) In a large majority of the seventy-five words 
employed in the German test, they boys had clearer 
concepts than the girls. 

(2) Dr. Hall's "Contents of Children's 
Minds "^ In 1880, Dr. G. Stanley Hall repeated 
the German experiment in Boston, substituting for 
such words as were unsuitable in the foreign list 
others that were adapted to the local conditions. 
The problem Dr. Hall set for himself was this : "What 
may Boston children be assumed, by teachers, to 
know and have seen when they enter school ? " 

With this general problem and its answer we are 
not now concerned; but as the test applied was in 
effect finding what content children had for certain 
terms, the study throws incidentally some light on 

^ G. Stanley Hall. E. L. Kellogg Co., New York, 1893. 



98 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

the study of words. Among the conclusions formu- 
lated by Dr. Hall are the following : 

{a) The German boys had more content for 
seventy-five per cent of the Berlin words than the 
girls had. In Boston the boys excelled the girls in 
about 70 per cent of the words used. 

(h) The German conclusion that kindergarten 
children possess a richer content of words than other 
children do is emphatically confirmed by the Boston 
study. 

{c) The Boston inquiry also confirms the con- 
clusion of the German investigation that country 
children have more content for words than city chil- 
dren have. For 86 per cent of Dr. Hall's questions, 
the intelligence of the country children ranked higher 
than that of city children. ^'A few days in the country 
at this age (six years) has raised the level of many a 
city child's intelligence more than a term or two of 
school -training could do without it. " 

{d) Many errors in the use of words by children 
are due to euphonic analogy. Numerous illustrations 
are given from the Boston study; as: "Butterflies 
make butter;" "grass-hoppers give grass;" "honey 
is from honeysuckles;" "when the cow lows it 
blows its own horn;" "a holiday is a day to ^holler' 
on," etc. "Words in connection with rhjmie, 
rhythm, alliteration, cadence, or even without these, 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS 99 

simply as sound pictures, often absorb the attention 
of children, and yield them a really esthetic pleasure, 
either quite independently of their meaning, or to the 
utter bewilderment of it. " 

(3) Earl Barnes In Denmark Dr. HalPs 
study v/as repeated by Mr. Olsen, who found results 
identical with those of the Boston schools.^ These 
investigations show us how large a part of a child's 
vocabulary is obtained by imitation without experi- 
ence with the things which the words signify. When 
we hear children's language we are prone to imagine 
that the words they use have the same content that we 
put into them. Nothing could be further from 
the facts than such a view. 

Ideas in the mind of a child are quite fragmentary 
and incomplete, or entirely erroneous. In using 
language children project their ideas, as it were, on a 
screen; and hence a study of children's vocabu- 
laries show us how terms grow in their minds. 

In 1902 Earl Barnes published a paper on "How 
Words get Content. "^ The test which is the basis 
of the study was given to 1200 London Board School 
children, 1500 Boston school children, and certain 
children in English secondary schools. The children 

^ " Children's Ideas, " in the PafJo/o^w^, England, Vol. II, pp. 128- 
131- 

* "Studies in Education," Vol. II., p. 43. 



loo ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

were asked to give the meaning of the following six 
words : monk, peasant, emperor, armor, nation, school. 
The first five were selected to represent the historical 
group of the humanities, and are fairly representative 
of the vocabularies constantly appearing in all kinds 
of school work after a child is eight. 

The returns are tabulated separately for each 
word. Here are the results of the test for school: 

(a) "School" (Partly or wholly correct — Boston.) 
Age Syrs. 9yrs. loyrs. ii yrs. i2yrs. i3yrs. 
93% 95% 99% 97% 98% 



School was chosen because its meaning was known 
to every pupil tested. No child had the answer 
entirely wrong. Some omitted it, probably for want 
of time, as the word was last in the list. The table 
shows that when a child has an adequate content for 
a word he manages to express himself properly. It 
is therefore assumed that the inaccuracies for the 
remaining words are due to lack of content and not 
merely to difficulties of expression. 

Following are the results for armor and emperor: 

(b) "Armor" 
Age 7 yrs. 8 yrs. 
Boys — 34 
Girls 40 31 

(c) "Armor" 

Boys — 34 
Girls 28 18 



(No Answer — Boston.) Per cents. 




9 yrs. 10 yrs. 11 yrs. 12 yrs. 


13 yrs. 


14 yrs. 


21 18 II 12 


14 


II 


38 27 34 16 


23 


21 


(Wrong answer — Boston.) 






IS 12 6 4 


2 


2 


18 17 5 7 


2 


2 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS loi 



id) 


"Armor" 


Boys 

Girls 


— 32 
32 SI 


ie) 


"Armor" 


Boys 
Girls 


— 10 

— 4 



(Wholly or in part right content — Boston.) 
64 70 83 84 84 87 

44 56 61 77 75 77 

(Content entirely correct — Boston.) 

28 32 45 56 53 72 

II 13 21 46 44 49 



We next compare the results between the London 
and Boston children. 



(/) "Armor" 

America — 7 
London — 16 



(Content entirely correct.) 



20 
26 



23 
48 



33 
61 



SI 
64 



48 
68 



60 



The study of the word emperor is based on 1400 
returns from children in the London Board Schools. 



(g) 

Boys 
Girls 

(h) 
Boys 
Girls 

(i) 
Boys 
Girls 

Ci) 

Age 

Boys 

Girls 



"Emperor" 

— 41 

— 29 

"Emperor" 

— 25 

— 29 

"Emperor" 

— 17 

— 28 

"Emperor" 
8yrs. 

3 

3 



(No Answer — London.) 

25 17 9 II ^^ 
35 22 14 12 15 

(Content entirely wrong — London.) 
13 10 7 31 

12 17 6 5 4 

(Content partly right — London.) 

30 23 10 3 3 2 

26 17 18 13 14 ^ 
(Content entirely correct — London.) 

9yrs. loyrs. iiyrs. i2yrs. i3yrs. i4yrs 
21 34 58 60 62 

II 22 42 48 50 



9 
14 

2 

I 



74 
65 



(k) 
Age 



" Peasant " (Correct content — London.) 

8yrs. 9yrs. loyrs. iiyrs. 12 yrs. i3yrs. 

Board School 6 2 8 20 20 20 

Secondary School 26 31 41 21 35 43 

From these tables and the papers upon which they 
are based Mr, Barnes draws the following inferences: 



I02 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

(a) Dr. Hall's discovery that euphonic analogy is 
a prolific source of error in children's use of words is 
confirmed, e.g., "Armor is to hold a thing by your 
arm;" ''armor is a title given to Arabic rulers 
(Ameer);" "armor is a river (Amoor);" "armor is 
a man's name (Armour)." Mr. Barnes says exam- 
iners should treat this kind of errors as unripened 
truth, although it is difficult to distinguish them from 
mere guesses. 

(b) From tables (b) and (g) we learn that at 
eight 34 boys in loo and 31 girls in 100 had no avail- 
able content for armor, while 41 boys and 29 girls 
had no content for emperor. This ignorance vanishes 
with a fair degree of steadiness, but even at fourteen 
there are still from 9 to 21 per cent of children without 
content for these words. 

(c) The effect of home is well illustrated by table 
(k). The Board School children come from homes 
of laborers, artisans,, and small shop keepers. The 
secondary school children represent the middle-class 
homes. The intelligence of the better-class children 
is from two to fifteen times as great as that of children 
from the homes of the humbler class. 

(d) "Learning definitions, or dictionary work, 
can never give any slightest new content to the mind ; 
it can simply re-shuffle the existing ideas. Every 
child should know how to use a dictionary, but the 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS 103 

teacher should not allow herself to think that it can 
furnish new material for thought. It can simply take 
content out of old terms and put it into new ones; 
and generally the product is less clear than before 
the transfer." 

(e) "All teachers of subjects in the humanistic 
group, and this includes all elementary subjects 
except science, should each year select from fifty to 
two hundred new terms connected with the subject 
matter of that year, and plan definitely that their 
children -should know these terais before they leave 
the grade." 

(/) Illustrative material should be selected with 
the same pains and care that a teacher employs in 
preparation for a lesson in nature study or an ex- 
periment in elementary science. 

{g) These materials should consist of carefully 
selected pictures, stories, and incidents. They should 
be treated as similar material is treated in a science 
lesson. They should be observed, analyzed, compared, 
and combined with experience already possessed by 
the children. "A few terms carefully worked out 
and added to each year would strengthen all the rest 
of the vocabulary not thus carefully elaborated, 
and would give a foundation for good dictionary 
work." 

Qi) The method suggested for the elementary 



104 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

school would apply equally to the high school and to 
the university. 

(4) Will Grant Chambers^ In 1904, Mr. Cham- 
bers published the results of a study which he made 
to verify the inferences of Mr. Barnes. He employed 
the same method and the same words that had been 
used in England; namely, monkj peasant, emperor, 
armor, nation, school. As in the case of Mr. Barnes, 
school was used to discover to what extent children 
at different ages can express the meaning of a word 
with which they are perfectly familiar. The remain- 
ing words were used because the child is probably 
ignorant of their meaning when he enters school, 
but is expected to know them when he arrives at the 
high school age. The results in figures and the 
inferences of this study are practically identical v/ith 
the findings of Mr. Barnes. 

5 Summary of Conclusions 

(i) The content of children's vocabularies is influ- 
enced to a very large extent by their environments 
out of school. (See especially table k of Barnes's test.) 

(2) Kindergarten children have a better content 
for words than those that have never been in a kinder- 
garten. Such is the experience of Boston and Berlin. 

(3) Boys seem to have clearer concepts as to the 

* "How Words Get Meaning," Pedagogical Seminary^ Vol. XI., p. 48. 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS 105 

meaning of words than girls have. This is true of 
the Boston and of the Berlin children. 

(4) German and American investigators agree 
in the conclusion that country children have more 
content for words than city children have. 

(5) Many errors in the use of words by children 
are due to euphonic analogy (stature — statue). 

(6) At eight, about thirty per cent of the English 
children tested had no available content for ^' armor"; 
forty per cent of the boys and thirty per cent of the 
girls had no content for "emperor." 

(7) Learning definitions can never give any 
slightest new content to the mind; it can simply re- 
shufHe the existing ideas. 

(8) All teachers of subjects in the humanistic 
group should each year select from fifty to two hun- 
dred new terms connected with the subject matter of 
that year, and plan definitely that their children 
should know these terms before they leave the 
grade. 

(9) Illustrative material should be collected with 
the same pains and care that a teacher employs in 
preparation for a lesson in nature study or an ex- 
periment in elementary science. 

(10) These materials should consist of carefully 
selected pictures, stories, and incidents. They should 
be treated as similar material is treated in a science 



io6 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

lesson. They should be observed, analyzed, and 
compared, and combined with experience already 
possessed by the children. 

(ii) When a child, at any age, has an adequate 
content for a word he manages to express himself 
properly (correct content for ''school," ^S per cent 
at 8, 98 per cent at 13). 

6 Words Not to be Defined 

It may be well to specify just the classes of words 
whose meanings should not be taught in the ele- 
mentary school. 

(i) Too Difficult Many words occur in 
the books used in school whose mea.ning is too ab- 
stract or refined for the child at the time. It is 
unwise to select such terms for instruction because 
they can be more successfully taught and learned at 
a more mature stage of advancement. We must 
recall in this connection the fact already explained, 
that learning the meaning of words is really a know- 
ledge-lesson ; and there are many kinds of knowledge 
that a pupil in the grades cannot possibly compre- 
hend. Among the terms here alluded to are very 
technical or unusual v/ords, and words of ethical or 
moral significance beyond the experience of chil- 
dren. 

The following are examples: Plasmodium, par- 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS 107 

thenogenesis, psychology, anthropology, autocracy, 
profligacy, sensuality, sanctiflcation, free-thinker, tran- 
suhstantiation. Our time is limited, and we should 
devote ourselves to the task of equipping the pupil 
with a vocabulary of words in ordinary use, and 
should not anticipate the work of the secondary 
school and college. 

(2) Too Easy Another class of words that 
should be excluded from the meaning list consists of 
words in common use whose meaning is familiar to a.11 
children. The following are examples: knuckle, 
laughter, Wednesday, mirror, music, neighbor, nine- 
teen, nurse, sponge, though. The object of definition 
is to bring the "meaning" of words to the mind; 
that is, to develop or suggest the object or idea for 
which the word stands. If this knov/ledge, or con- 
tent, or meaning is already well-known, why waste 
time in carrying coal to Newcastle? 

It is evident, from the preceding illustrations, that 
the exclusion of words from the meaning list is quite 
as important as the selection of the proper words. 
Not all the words used by a child or employed in his 
books are to be defined or explained. How bar- 
barous, then, was the practice, once very common, 
of requiring children to commit all the definitions 
found in the dictionary! One writer confesses that 
he took a class through Worcester's dictionary regu- 



io8 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

larly from beginning to end/ although another 
author, twenty years before, had condemned the 
practice in the following sensible paragraph i^ 

*^To say that it would be impossible to remember 
the definitions thus abstractly learned would be to 
assert what must be perfectly obvious to every one. 
And even if they could be remembered, they would 
be of little utility, for as the right application of a 
definition must depend entirely on the situation of 
the word to be explained and the office it performs 
in a sentence, the repeating of half a score of mean- 
ings, as obscure perhaps as the word itself, conveys 
no definite thought, and serves rather to darken than 
to illumine the mind." 

7 What Words to Define 

The meaning and use list should contain at least 
the following two classes : 

(i) Words in Common Use Whose Meaning 
IS NOT Familiar to the Children The selection 
of this list depends entirely upon circumstances. 
We have seen that the home environment affects 
the vocabularies of children. Only two per cent 
of the nine-year-old pupils in the Board Schools of 

^ Christopher A. Green: "Methods of Teaching Spelling," Journal 
of the American Institute of Instruction, 185 1, p. 181. 

^ G. P. Thayer: "On the Spelling of Words," Journal of American 
Institute oj Instruction, 1830, p. 123. 



MEANING AND USE OF WORDS 109 

London knew the meaning of "peasant," while 
thirty-one per cent of the children of the same age 
in a private school knew the word. We have shown 
also that kindergarten children have a better content 
for words than others of the same age; that country- 
children are superior to city children; and that boys 
have slightly the advantage of girls. 

(2) Words Needed to Master the Course of 
Study In the second place, we must teach the 
meaning of words that are needed to master the 
subject-matter of the grade. A large proportion of 
the words that occur in school books have the vaguest 
kind of content for the child or no content at all. 
The following simple experiment illustrates this fact : 
A seventh-year class had read Longfellow's "The 
Courtship of Miles Standish,'' and were asked to tell 
the meaning of a few words selected from the text 
of the first two pages. This was the result : 



Words 


Per Cent 


of Children who Knew the Meaning 


clad 




12 


doublet 







anon 







stature 




50 (confused with statue) 


athletic 




25 


sinews 







azure 




6 


scribe 




I 



Perhaps the best way to find out what words need 



no ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

to be taught in a given class is to test the children. 
Mr. Barnes has shown that if a pupil has content for 
a word, he manages to express himself with sufficient 
clearness. We may, therefore, assume that if he 
cannot tell the meaning of a word he has no meaning 
to tell. Every grade, even every class, will almost 
necessarily have its peculiar list, and will scarcely 
have the same list during any two successive terms. 
Teachers in the same grade often have different text- 
books; and therefore, a list selected by one teacher 
might be partially useless to another. These lists 
cannot well be made in advance. As the reading, or 
study, or experiment proceeds, the words come up. 
If the meaning is known, there is no occasion for wast- 
ing time on it. If the word is new and its meaning 
within the comprehension of the pupil, it is put into 
the meaning and use list. 



VII 

Methods of Teaching the Meaning and 
Use of Words 

We have now reached the most difficult part of our 
problem. How shall the schoolmaster put content 
into the words of his pupil ? This has been the prob- 
lem of the ages. Words are the "ambassadors" and 
"sole expounders" of the mind, hence all knowledge 
must be communicated from the master's mind, as 
well as from books, to the pupil's mind by means of 
words. Words are competent to fulfil their function 
only when they represent the same things to the two 
communicating minds. As a matter of fact, they 
never do this; but in the case of adults, they do it 
with sufficient approximation to render the exchange 
of ideas possible. The immaturity and want of 
experience on the part of the child, however, serve 
sometimes to make words non-conductors of thought. 
In order to secure the best results in the most econo- 
mical way, the knowledge of things and the know- 
ledge of terms should progress together. As a child 



III 



112 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

in his early years comes in contact with all sorts of 
people whose conversation he hears, and later reads 
all sorts of books, magazines, and papers, it is im- 
possible to keep the knowledge and vocabulary abreast 
of each other. The vocabulary usually outruns the 
knowledge, being picked up and employed loosely by 
imitation. Sometimes the opposite condition obtains, 
the child having ideas and feelings without the neces- 
sary language for adequate expression. He is de- 
ficient in words representing subjective states, because 
he is too young for the introspective processes involved 
in the use of subjective terms. He is prone to use 
the general rather than the specific word in his 
descriptions and narrations. For instance, if he has 
been at a picnic, he says he has had "nice things to 
eat." When he gets older he will probably say 
he has had "thin, dainty, chicken sandwiches, olives, 
grapes, and litde cakes with pink icing on them.'' 
When we try to bring the vocabulary up to the know- 
ledge, the process is purely a language lesson; when 
we try to bring the knowledge up to the vocabulary, 
the process is a knowledge-lesson. In both cases it 
is called word study; but in the one instance it is 
finding the meaning of words, while in the other it 
is learning the use of words. 



METHODS OF TEACHING MEANING 113 

I Inductive 

There are two principal methods of teaching the 
meaning of words, the inductive and the deductive. 
The inductive method has already been described 
in one of its aspects in the previous chapter. We 
shall next try to discriminate the several forms of 
the inductive method. 

(i) The Natural Method This is the spon- 
taneous procedure the child follows in learning to 
speak. Its application in the class-room would 
require the frequent use of a word in the presence 
of the pupil, so that almost unconsciously he would 
infer the correct use. Now, how can this be ac- 
complished? The following description of a device 
is offered as an answer to the question:^ 

'^In a day's exercises the teacher will select three 
or four words which are to be subjects of instruction. 
Of course, every unfamiliar word has been explained, 
but these are put aside for future treatment. The 
limitations of the classroom allow only an artificial 
application of the natural method. I have en- 
deavored to approximate it by printing such words 
on charts and exposing them in a conspicuous place 
in the class-room without comment, so that there are 
always about eight words before the eyes of the pupil. 

^ Albert Shiels, District Superintendent of Schools, New York, is the 
author of this device. 



114 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

Furthermore, the teacher will use these words in his 
conversation when possible, and it does not require 
a master of language to introduce ordinary words 
into the class-room conversation. Imitation will 
contribute its share; and teachers who have tried 
this method state that their pupils will introduce the 
words into compositions through the suggestion of 
the chart and the teacher. 

Not until one week later, will the word be con- 
sidered as a formal subject of instruction, and by 
that time it is something more than a bare unknown 
term. It is ''warm" to the pupil. The sense in 
which the word will be selected will be the same as 
that in which it first occurred, and it is, of course, 
assumed that when it was first chosen it was used in 
one of its general meanings. The definition is now 
taken up, and it must be developed, not merely taken 
like a dead mummy from a dictionary. How far 
figurative meanings may be drawn out must be 
determined by the grade." 

A child's knowledge of a term is, of course, never 
complete, and not very exact. The younger he is, 
the smaller the degree of accuracy and completeness 
we can expect. It is necessary for the teacher to 
provide for grades of exactness; so that he may not 
demand of a fourth grade pupil the same degree of 
perfection that he demands of an eighth grade pupil. 



METHODS OF TEACHING MEANING 115 

The question as to when formal or systematic 
work in the meaning and use of words should begin 
is pertinent at this point. The child is occupied 
during the first three years of school in an effort to 
overcome the mechanical difficulties of reading, 
and a large proportion of the words employed in his 
reading lessons are selected from his oral vocabulary. 
During this period he is not able to read books on 
his own account for the purpose of acquiring know- 
ledge. He therefore meets with relatively few words 
that are strange to him. He has been engaged in 
recognizing words previously familiar as ear-symbols 
in their new disguise as eye-symbols. During the 
fourth year independent book-study begins; and a 
host of strange terms are encountered, which must 
be known if the subject-matter of the book is to be 
understood. All these considerations point to the 
fourth year as the proper time for the beginning of 
the study of the meaning of words. 

(2) The Use of Context The stories in the 
school-readers usually deal with facts familiar to 
children, which are expressed in language choice 
and frequently adorned. In reading such material 
the pupil's language stores are insensibly increased. 
By asking questions on the text and encouraging 
children to answer in the language of the book, the 
teacher may train his class in the habit of the correct 



ii6 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

use of words. The meaning of many new words can 
be inferred from the context. The pupil in this case 
is really employing the natural method explained 
under the preceding topic. The difference is that 
in the former instance he inferred the meaning of 
words by hearing them used, whereas now he learns 
by seeing them used. 

(3) Memorizing Another inductive method of 
learning the meaning of words consists in committing 
passages to memory. Poetry is especially recom- 
mended for this purpose by Alexander Bain.^ Poetry 
contains thoughts, images, and expressions such as 
are capable of taking part in our future intellectual 
constructions. Impassioned and rhythmical prose 
is next in value to poetry for memorizing purposes. 
Selections should be chosen which are expressed in 
short, happy phrase, rather than in long and com- 
plicated sentences. A mind well stored with language 
thus carefully chosen will unconsciously catch some 
of the tricks of style and learn to discriminate nice 
shades of meaning. A little girl once crossed Newark 
Bay with me on a windy autumn day. The water 
was rough and as the child caught sight of the water's 
edge, she exclaimed, "The waves dashed high on 
a wild New England shore." In this way the 
memorized stores through association become avail- 

* "Education as a Science." 



METHODS OF TEACHING MEANING 117 

able for future demands in oral and written 

composition. 

(4) The Method of Story and Picture Earl 
Barnes came to the conclusion from his inquiry on 
''How Words Get Content," that teachers should 
select for special study from fifty to two hundred 
terms each year; that they should collect illustrative 
material with the same care a teacher employs m 
an experiment in elementary science; that these 
materials should consist of pictures, stories, and 
incidents; that these should be treated as simHar 
material is treated in science, i. e., they should be ob- 
served, analyzed, compared; and that finally the 
pupil should infer the proper use of words as a result 
of such study. I think we may call this the story 
method. Mr. Chambers^ warns us against one 
danger in tliis form of teaching. We must be careful 
not to let the meaning of a word depend upon a single 
incident, but should vary its use sufficiendy to brmg 
out its essential content by several common appli- 
cations. For instance, a child on being asked for 
the meaning of ''peasant," wrote: ''A peasant is a 
farmer in Holland." Another child wrote for a 
definition of " emperor, " "An emperor is the^mler 
of Germany." A third wrote for "monk," "A 
monk is a man who hunts people who are lost." I 

1 " How Words Get Meaning," Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. XL, p. 48. 



ii8 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

offer below three stories or incidents to illustrate the 
method of teaching here described: 

Scalawag — During the period of reconstruction 
after our Civil War, the colored people of the South 
were enfranchised, while most of the men of influence 
and ability were disfranchised on account of having 
taken part in the rebellion. This left the affairs of 
government in the hands of three classes — the 
enfranchised slaves, the "carpet-baggers," and the 
"scalawags." These last were Southern white Re- 
publicans. The name applied to them originated 
in the experience of a man who was kicked by a sheep 
so that he died. "He said he didn't mind being 
kicked, but he hated the idea of being kicked to 
death by the meanest wether in the whole flock, the 
scaly sheep." Therefore "scaly wag," or scalawag, 
was applied to a man who was supposed to be meaner 
than a carpet-bagger. ^ The word now means a 
scamp or worthless fellow. 

Carpet-baggers The so-called carpet-baggers 
were Northern men who went to the South during 
the period of Reconstruction. Many of them had 
been Union soldiers. They were attracted by the 
high price of cotton, and became planters. As their 
ventures were generally unsuccessful, they took ad- 

* "History of the United States," by Jas. P. Rhodes. Macmillan, 
1906, Vol. VI., p. 91. 



Methods of teaching meaning ng 

vantage of the new conditions to earn a livelihood in 
politics, which was open to them on account of the 
wholesale disfranchisement of Southern white men. 
Their worldly goods, it was supposed, could all be 
carried in a carpet-bag; hence, they became known 
as carpet-baggers.^ This word is now applied 
sometimes to any one who seeks his fortune in new 
or untried fields. 

The Story of the Word ''Petrel'' A petrel is a 
little black and white seabird. It has long, pointed 
wings that will carry it for days over the ocean. It 
likes to spread its wings and speed along after some 
ship. It is quite at home upon the water and appears 
to walk on the billows. 

Once when the disciples of Jesus were in a ship 
tossed by the waves, Jesus walked toward them over 
the sea. Peter, one of the disciples, came down 
from the ship and stepped out upon the water to 
meet Jesus, his master. 

Peter and the seabird both braved the sea, and 
appeared to walk upon the waves. Therefore the 
bird was called petrel, which means ^^ little Peter." 

(5) Dramatization In the primary grades, be- 
fore the period for the formal study of meanings has 
arrived, dramatization has in modern days become 
a useful means of giving richness of content to the 

* "History of the United States," Rhodes. Macmillan, Vol. VI., p. 91. 



I20 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

spoken and written symbols that are thrust upon the 
child in such profusion. 

The story will be told or read one day, and the 
next some children will be allowed to "act out" the 
incidents as related. This device is particularly 
useful to pupils who come from uncultured homes, 
where the daily conversation furnishes no assistance 
in learning the use of words. 

2 Deductive 

When we have ascertained the meaning of a word 
by induction, it is sometimes of use to confirm, or 
narrow still further, our definition by another method 
— the method of deduction. 

Many of our least familiar words are derived from 
Latin or Greek words; others from Latin through 
French. By taking such compound English words 
to pieces, and translating their foreign roots into 
English, we can often deduce the exact meaning of 
the compound word. Thus by knowing that ge 
is Greek for earth, and that logy means science, 
we may see that ''geology" means science of earth. 
But this is not always a safe process.^ 

(i) Prefixes and Suffixes At first the pupil 
learns words as wholes. A little later he learns their 

* Abbott* " English Lessons for English People, " p. 22. 



METHODS OF TEACHING MEANING 121 

parts as sounds and syllables for purposes of spelling 
and identification. He learns the meaning of new 
words considered as wholes, also. Of the majority 
of words used by him in his early years, he infers the 
meaning unconsciously. During the first three 
years he deals chiefly with words taken from his oral 
vocabulary. During the fourth year he begins to 
read books for information or pleasure, and thus 
learns the necessity for exercises in finding the mean- 
ing of new words. During the fifth year we may 
properly begin to show him that the parts of which 
words are composed may give a clue to their meaning. 
The first steps in this work should be analytic. 
Taking some familiar word like recall^ the teacher 
shows that it may be separated into two parts — re 
and call. The children know the meaning of call; 
perhaps some know the meaning of recall. Other 
similar words are submitted, such as rearrange, 
rebound, reclaim. The children may, by this time, 
infer the meaning of re. Then it is explained that in 
such words the first part is called prefix and the second 
part stem. Suffixes are treated in the same way. 
It has been suggested that in these first exercises we 
reject all words whose stems cannot be used as words. 
This would exclude from our list such words as report 
and reflect, but would retain re-exchange and reform,^ 

* Emma L. Johnston, Brooklyn Training School. 



122 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

After some little drill of the analytic sort, the process 
may be reversed, and children required to build 
words out of given elements. The building may 
take the form of a co-operative exercise on the board, 
teacher and class working together, or the elements 
previously learned may be given as a written test. 
The children should give the meaning of the ele- 
ments used, as well as the literal and current meanings 
of the words they build. They should not be en- 
couraged or allowed to add prefixes and suffixes to 
words merely because such additions are possible. 
Thus, we may build sensible and senseless from 
sense, but we do not want sensibility or sensual, 
because these words could not properly be defined 
for children. 

In the fifth year I would not require pupils to copy 
any of this work into note-books. The teacher 
should, however, enter the words analyzed, as well 
as the stems, prefixes, and suffixes used, into her 
progress book for reference, review, and drill. 

{a) Graded Lists Essential It was suggested 
above that the beginning of the etymological analysis 
and synthesis be somewhat informal. It is not 
intended that the work shall be haphazard. On 
the contrary, the principal should provide a graded 
list of elements to be taught and reviewed in each 
class. This is essential to economy of effort. Unless 



METHODS OF TEACHING MEANING 123 

each grade has a definite amount of work prescribed, 
all the teachers might be frittering away the children's 
time on the same dozen or score of elements. Wliat 
particular work is done in a particular grade is not 
nearly so important as the demand that the work 
shall be definitely agreed upon and faithfully per- 
formed. 

{h) Review Work By way of review the pre- 
fixes and suffixes may be arranged into classes ac- 
cording to the language from which they come, and 
according to their meaning, as sho\vn in the following 
table : 

ENGLISH PREFIXES 

a = at, in, on ^^ = beyond 

fte = tomake,by ^^^= above 

en {em) — in, on, to make io — the, this 

]or = not, from ^^ = ^^t, opposite act 

/^. = before under = hene3,th 

mis = wrong, wrongly '^th = against, from 

The teacher should remember that the object of 
this work is to furnish a key to the meaning of words, 
and, above all, to stimulate the interest of children 
in the study of words. The lesson, therefore, must 
never descend to a lifeless, mechanical drill ; for 
that is the surest way to destroy whatever interest a 
child may have in words and to render the whole 
performance worthless. 

(2) Definition A second form of the deductive 



124 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

method of finding the meaning of words is the use of 
the definition. The dictionary gives a list of the 
meanings in which the word may be used. By com- 
paring these definitions with the context, we infer 
that one or the other of the meanings appHes in the 
given case. We have already found, from a study 
of the psychology of meanings, that definitions can 
never give new content to the mind. They can, 
however, re-shutfie the existing ideas, and often 
explain the strange by the familiar. 

Suppose the child finds the word occlude, as used 
by the dentist. He turns to the dictionary and finds 
that occlude is defined by the synonym to shut. But 
very frequently the definition is as much of an enigma 
as the word it attempts to define. The following 
letter written by a parent of foreign birth to a New 
York school principal was evidently elaborated 
from dictionary definitions: 

Dear Miss B. 

Please exculpate my son Moses for being absent from school one 
aggregate day because his mother substantive sick and he had to so- 
journ in the house perpetual, so please apology him this one day ab- 
sence and oblige his father. 

While the dictionary, therefore, has its value, it 
is not suitable for the use of very young children. 
The beginning of the study of meanings must be by 
the inductive method. But in about the fifth or sixth 



METHODS OF TEACHING MEANING 125 

year, after children have had some work in word 
analysis and word building by means of prefixes and 
suffixes, they should be gradually trained to get 
information from the dictionary. 

(a) Synonyms One of the forms of definition 
is the method of synonyms. 

"The first decided amplification of language 
lessons on the great scale is the teaching of synony- 
mous words. The best example of this is the per- 
petual passing to and fro between our two vocabu- 
laries — Saxon and Classical. The pupils bring 
with them the homely names for what they know, 
and the master translates these into the more dignified 
and accurate names; or in reading, he makes the 
learned terms intelligible by referring to the more 
familiar."^ 

In the following list of synonyms there is probably 
one word in each series that is familiar to most chil- 
dren, and by means of which the remaining words 
in the group are understood: 

English Latin Greek 

well-bred civ il po lite 

strength vig or en er gy 

tease tor ment tan ta lize 

sight spec ta cle scene 

shel ter ref uge a sy lum 

fore tell pre diet proph e sy 

' Bain: "Education as a Science." 



bold 


cou ra geous 


dark en 


ob scure 


time 


e ra 


foe 


en e my 


stress 


ac cent 



126 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

he ro ic 
e clipse 
pe ri od 
an tag o nist 
em pha sis 

The study of synonyms has long been regarded 
as a valuable intellectual discipline. It cultivates a 
habit of thorough investigation into the meaning of 
words, and this habit is indispensable to precision 
and accuracy of thought. Slovenly use of words 
implies slovenly thinking. While the drill on syn- 
onyms cannot be very thorough or formal in the ele- 
mentary grades, it may be used as a mode of definition 
and for the purpose of inducing children to acquire 
the habit of making nice distinctions between words. 
By and by the process of critical study in the use of 
words will become spontaneous, and the child will 
unconsciously select the term with the right shade of 
meaning. 

(b) Figurative and Poetical Equivalents A 
special application of the method of teaching words 
by S3nionyms is the use of figurative and poetical 
equivalents. In a sixth-year reading lesson, recently 
heard by the writer, the word fireside occurred. The 
children who knew the meaning of the word were 
asked to stand; thirty per cent arose. They were 
then asked to give a definition. Every pupil took 
the word in its literal sense to represent a place where 



METHODS OF TEACHING MEANING 127 

fire is kept. It is a valuable lesson in such cases to 
point out the figurative extension of the word. There 
lurks in many such applications a singular poetic 
beauty, which children are capable of appreciating. 
Another useful exercise consists in adducing equiva- 
lent idiomatic phrases for single words. Roget's 
Thesaurus is a treasure-house of such material. 
For instance, where we distrust a person or situation, 
^^ we smell a rat;" if we have courage, we "put on a 
bold front," or "come to the scratch;" when we die, 
we "shake off this moral coil," or "pay the debt to 
nature, " or " go to our long home. " There is a subtle 
reaction of the knowledge of things in this exercise 
because figures imply a comparison of one object with 
another, and they are used to intensify and elucidate 

the meaning. 

3 Tests of Meaning 

How shall the child's knowledge of the meaning 
of a word be tested? 

(i) Definitions not to be Copied or Memo- 
rized Under no circumstances should children be 
required to memorize the formal words of the defini- 
tions found in the dictionary, nor should they ever 
be required to copy definitions into note-books from 
the dictation of the teacher.^ An enormous waste of 

^ This interdiction applies only to words of ordinary use. Technical 
terms found in grammar, arithmetic, science, etc., must be technically 
defined; and such definitions should be memorized in the higher grades. 



128 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

time is involved in the exercises here condemned. 
In the first place, it must be perfectly obvious to 
everyone that it would be an impossible task to re- 
member definitions thus abstractly learned. To 
prove this statement, let the reader try to remem- 
ber the exact words of any definition he ever found 
in the dictionary. And if the child cannot remem- 
ber definitions, it is manifestly an outrage to compel 
him to copy them into a book. If he wants to refer 
to a definition it is easier to depend upon the 
dictionary, which has all the words, than to refer 
to his note-book, which at best can have only a 
few. 

But even if a child could remember the words of 
the definition, it w^ould not be desirable to do so. The 
"meaning" of a word must be stored in terms of 
experience or knowledge, and a definition is neither. 
The function of a word is to convey an idea or feeling; 
hence we do not desire to establish a connection be- 
tween the word and its definition; for this is merely 
associating one symbol with another. The function 
of the definition, so far as it has any value, is to call 
up some former experience of the pupil and connect 
it with the new word. The word and the experience 
have hitherto been strangers. The definition merely 
serves to establish an acquaintance between the two. 
When the word "Ceylon" is pronounced, we do not 



METHODS OF TEACHING MEANING 129 

expect the pupil to think of the words, "Ceylon is an 
island south of British India''; nor do we want him 
to recall a yellow patch on the map of Asia. What- 
ever he knows of Ceylon, its people, houses, vegeta- 
tion, animals, etc., should appear in consciousness 
when the word is seen or heard. So in teaching the 
meaning of any other word, the aim is to connect 
some real knowledge or experience directly with the 
word symbol. 

(2) Children's Definitions When a child 
makes his own definition, the process is very different 
from the recitation of a memorized definition. When 
he recites a definition someone has made for him, 
there mxay be nothing in consciousness except the 
words he has learned. When he undertakes to 
construct an original definition, he is not thinking 
of abstract words, but is trying to convey some 
experience of his which we call the content of the 
word. We have already seen that if there is any 
content in his mind, the pupil of any age manages 
to express himself with reasonable success. The 
child's own definition may therefore be taken as a 
test of his knowledge of a word. The peculiarities 
of children's definitions have been carefully investi- 
gated by Binet, Barnes, Shaw,^ and others; and 

* See the author's paper on" Interest " in "Educational Foundations," 
Vol. 18, p. 126, A. S. Barnes & Co., 1907. 



13© ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

from these studies the following interesting con- 
clusions are gathered: 

(a) At the age of seven, children define things 
in the terms of "use"; that is, if asked what a thing 
is they tell what it does or is used for; as, "A knife 
is to cut with." 

(h) At the age of eleven, "use" is still supreme, 
but "larger term" and "substance" are assuming 
importance. By "larger term" is meant referring 
an object to its genus; as, "A clock is a time-piece." 
By "substance" is meant what an object is made of; 
as, "A clock is made of wood." 

{c) At fifteen, "larger term" is more important 
than "use"; "substance" and "structure" are get- 
ing more and more prominent. 

(3) Children's Sentences In some quarters it 
is customary to test the "meaning" of words by 
memorized definitions and the "use" by original 
sentences made by children. We have already 
condemned the memorizing of definitions. What 
shall we say of the sentence-test ? Good authorities 
may be quoted on both sides of this question. Prof. 
Samuel T. Button, of Columbia, speaks thus: "The 
pupils themselves should be required to put into 
suitable sentences the words that properly belong 
to their vocabulary at each stage of school life. We 



METHODS OF TEACHING MEANING 131 

are seeking for the largest possible self -activity."' 
With this view I agree. I can see no valid objection 
to the sentence method of testing a pupil's knowledge 
of content. On the contrary, it is plain that the use 
of words in the oral or written discourse is the aim 
of every lesson on the meaning of words. The child, 
therefore, cannot begin using his words too soon. 
Of course, one must not imagine that the pupil gets 
content by writing sentences. We assume that he 
has content; and the construction of sentences is 
merely a test of the accuracy of his content, and 
practice in the proper use of the word. 

» "New York Teachers' Monographs," November, 1898. 



VIII 

Devices in Word Study 

I "Trapping" 

All the spelling in the writer's boyhood days was 
by the oral method. Spelling was always the last 
exercise on the program. There were, in our little 
country school, at least two spelling classes, an ele- 
mentary and an advanced. The entire school was 
registered in one or the other of these classes. We 
all stood up in a line, one end of which was the ^'head, " 
and the other the "foot." If a pupil spelled cor- 
rectly a word that had been missed, he "trapped" 
all those that had failed (i.e., passed them toward 
the head of the class). The method of spelling was 
to pronounce the word as the teacher gave it, then 
to spell and pronounce each syllable separately, and, 
finally, to put together the syllables into the synthe- 
sized word. This process involved sight, when the 
pupil studied, and hearing and the motor apparatus 
of speed, when he recited. The muscular activity 

involved in "trapping," the strong incentive to study 
132 



DEVICES IN WORD STUDY 133 

offered by a chance to get to the head of the class, 
the Hvely interest aroused by the contest — all these 
were elements of association that aided the recall 
of the word. The method was faulty, however, in 
one or two particulars. It omitted the use of the 
muscular apparatus employed in writing and over- 
looked the important fact that about the only practi- 
cal use we make of spelling is in writing rather than 
speaking. 

2 A Modern Substitute for "Trapping" 

The method of "trapping" is hardly to be recom- 
mended in classes where the discipline is weak, 
because its use is liable to lead to disorder. Nor 
is it feasible in classes that are very much crowded, 
except as an occasional test. Therefore, some 
device must be found which is adapted to the condi- 
tions as they exist in the average class in crowded 
city schools. It is believed that the following plan 
meets these conditions: 

(i) The teacher selects a word that has never 
been taught or given to the children. He slowly 
writes it upon the board, spelling it orally as he does 
so. As the children observe the process, they have 
the auditory image of the oral spelling, the visual 
image of the completed written word, and the mus- 



134 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

cular image of the eye as it follows the hand that 
writes the word. 

(2) Next the children write the word into their 
note-books, spelling orally at the same time. They 
have thus the auditory image of the word, the mus- 
cular image of the vocal organs, and the muscular 
image of the hand that writes. 

(3) If it is a word whose meaning is also to be 
taught, a conversation now follows as to its content. 
Its meaning is briefly illustrated and discussed, but 
not written at the time. This enhances the interest 
of the whole process and furnishes an additional 
association as a clue for the recall of the spelling of 
the word. 

(4) After four or five words have been treated in 
this way, the children are asked to look at each word 
once more, and to avert their eyes to see if they have 
imaged it perfectly. 

(5) The board is now cleaned, the books are put 
away, and the spelling papers are given out. The 
first word is pronounced and the children write it, 
laying down their pencils at a given signal. 

(6) The teacher writes the word on the board, 
and at the same time a pupil orally spells it. Those 
who have made a mistake pick up their pencils and 
correct the error. Those who are right, remain in 
position. If eight are wrong, the teacher writes the 



DEVICES IN WORD STUDY 135 

figure "8" after the word in his list. This shows 
him, when he comes to review, how many children 
have missed that word. By and by, some words in 
the list will thus have a row of figures written after 
them. He keeps on reviewing until each row of 
figures is reduced to zero. Then he stops. There 
is no use in wasting time on a word that every pupil 
can spell. 

(7) Each word is treated similarly. When the 
spelling is done the papers are collected and filed or 
thrown away. The teacher need spend no further 
time on corrections. Each pupil's degree of success 
is already recorded on his own paper, and the success 
of the class is shown by the figures after the words 
in the teacher's note-books. 

The above device is offered, not as a panacea for 
all the spelling evils, but as a modem substitute for 
''trapping." A teacher may try the plan under 
unfavorable conditions of discipline or grade, and 
pronounce it futile or foolish. I have no quarrel 
with him. It certainly involves a correct principle; 
if he can get better results by embodying the prin- 
ciple in some other method, by all means let him do 
it. I am inclined to think that for the higher grades 
it does too much for the pupil. Children need the 
discipline that comes from book mastery. In the 
upper grades it may be better simply to set for the 



136 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

pupil the task of learning so many words. But in 
that case the child would probably be helped by 
some such device as that herewith presented. 

3 Spelling in 1815 

"Each pupil has a blank book, in which the words 
spelled are written with pen and ink. I use Wor- 
cester's dictionary, which I go through regularly, 
from beginning to end. . . . With the lower 
class my method was to write the words to be spelled 
on the blackboard; a few minutes were allowed the 
class to study them; the rules of spelling were given 
and explained whenever they were applicable; if 
there were any words whose meaning was not under- 
stood, they were explained ; and I stated what I knew 
of the derivation and history of all interesting words; 
the words were then pronounced, first by the teacher, 
and then by the scholar."' 

4 Names of Common Things 

A high degree of interest can be created among 
children by giving them lessons in which they are 
required to spell the names, qualities, actions, etc., 
of common things, such as an object in the school - 

^ Chrifetopher A.Green: "Methods of Teaching Spelling. " American 
Institute of Instruction Lectures, 1851, p. 161. 



DEVICES IN WORD STUDY 137 

room, articles of furniture, articles of wearing ap- 
parel, kinds of food, things bought at stores, things 
taken to market, trees, flowers, vessels, vehicles, 
men, women, etc.^ 

5 '• Logomachy "i 

This word means '^word-fight. " The device con- 
sists in trying to make as many words as possible 
out of letters printed on separate pieces of card- 
board, which are distributed to the players. The 
play necessitates correct spelling and frequent re- 
course to the dictionary; it arouses emulation, and 
fixes eye-images of words in the memory. 

6 Calling Attention to Parts Liable to be Mistaken^ 

The feature of this book to which attention is 
particularly invited, and in which it differs from any 
book with which the writer is acquainted, is its 
classification of words upon the basis of form, with 
that part of the word which is likely to he mistaken 
as the form element. 

Illustration: Sound S. 

Equivalents ay, ai, e, ea, ee, eigh, et, ey. 

' Wickersham: " Methods of Instruction. " Lippincott, 1866. 
* Diamond's "The Rational Speller. " Macmillan, 1901. 



138 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


clay 


weigh 


pmme 


attache 


dvdiy 


neigh 


dairy 


cafe 


pla^^ 


sleigh 




cure 


stray 


neighbor 


vary 


employe 


etc. 


ob^y 


wary 


protege 


prey 


convey 


warily 


resume 


they 


survey 


variable 


vise 


whey 


daily 


yea 


matinee 



The part printed in italics may be written or 
printed in colored chalk on the blackboard. 

"7 Drill on Words Often Mispronounced ^ 

Take as many of the following or similar words 
as you desire for one exercise, write them upon the 
board, and in a parallel column write the words 
again, indicating the correct pronunciation. Allow 
each pupil sufficient time to study and practice the 
proper pronunciation — a half-day at least — after 
which erase the column in which the proper pronun- 
ciation is marked, and test the pupil's ability to pro- 
nounce correctly each word in the list: museum, 
lyceum, precedent, allopathic, homeopathic, allo- 
pathy, homeopathy, obligatory, combatant, indis- 

* Shaw & Donnell: " School Devices," p. 8^. A. S. Barnes & Co, 



DEVICES IN WORD STUDY 139 

putable, apparatus, covetous, iodine, prelude, ex- 
quisite, itinerant, impetus, architect, condenining, 
process, Juliet, greasy, interesting, allies, quinine, 
gallows, finance, mischievous, Khedive, condolence, 
leisure, extant, fatigue, bronchitis, telegraphy, pho- 
tography, inquiry, Italian, bade, acclimated, extol, 
franchise, lamentable, patron. Pall Mall, abdomen, 
association, pronunciation, bellows, livelong, Arab. 

8 Spelling 

Dictation as a Test.^ (The Fifth Herbartian 
Step), 
(i) How THE Exercise is Conducted 

(a) At least one child writes on the blackboard, 
while the rest write on paper. 

(b) The number of words dictated consecutively 
depends upon the mental capacity of the child and 
upon the nature of the selection. 

(c) Only groups of related words are dictated. 

(d) The speed of the dictation is limited by the 
ability of the majority of the class to take down the 
exercise verbatim. 

(e) No repetition is permissible unless it is de- 
manded by the content of the selection. 

» From Cronson's "Methods in Elementary School Studies," Mac- 
millan, 1906, This device is quoted with the permission of the publisHers, 



I40 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

(2) Method or Correction 

{a) Individual children are called upon to read 
their written exercises, the rest meanwhile inserting 
omissions. 

(6) The blackboard exercise as "proof-sheet": 
the attention is directed first to the paragraphs as 
wholes, then to the separate sentences as wholes, 
and lastly to the elements of each sentence. 

{c) Classes that are supplied with dictionaries 
should use these to look up the correction of mis- 
spelled words and the meanings of unknown words. 

{d) Correction is made by passing a line through 
the error, re-writing correctly above the word, and in 
the case of a misspelled word, writing it also below 
the exercise. 

General Directions 

{a) Time must be assigned for the study of the 
corrected forms, and for recitation by several pupils. 

(h) Each sheet of paper should contain two 
original dictations; if re-dictation is deemed advis- 
able, it should be taken on a separate sheet. 

{c) An oral review of exercises should be had at 
least once a month, when children are given an 
opportunity to restudy previous corrections. A 
recitation should follow. 



DEVICES IN WORD STUDY 141 

Model Lesson i 

The teacher dictated the following in groups of 
words included between the vertical lines : 

As the fair happened on the following day, | I had 
intentions of going myself. | 

"No, my dear," said my wife, | "our son Moses is 
a discreet boy, | and can buy and sell to very good 
advantage." i 

The "Proof-sheet" 
As the fair happened on the following day, I had 

intentions TI " 

intensions of going myself. "No, my dear, said my 

" discreet , 

wife, our son Moses is a discret boy and can buy 

advantage 

and sell to very good advantag." 

prudence 

As I also had a good opinion of my son's prudense, 
I was willing enough to trust the business with him. 



I Intentions 


5 


discreet 


2 ^ 


6 


J 


3 " 


7 


advantage 


4. '' 


8 


prudence 



^ The main aim of the lesson was to test the children' s knowledge of 
paragraphs and quotation marks. 



142 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

9 Meaning 

''The method of Mr. Alcott, in a school composed 
chiefly of young children, was to converse with his 
scholars on the meaning of every word spelled; so 
as to create an interest in it, and make them perceive 
its connection and use. They wrote these words 
from their spelling book, until they knew them, and 
then spelled them orally from dictation. It seems 
to me that such a method, applied by one competent, 
is nearly perfect as far as it goes. The blackboard 
was then cleaned, the words were put out to the class 
and written by them in their books. The lesson 
was then written over again on the blackboard, the 
pupils compared their v/ork with that on the black- 
board, marking mistakes with a cross, and the teacher 
called for and recorded the number of mistakes 
which each had made. The teacher afterwards 
corrected the books, examined them, and wrote, 
in a book kept for that purpose, all the words which 
were misspelled; he began his next day's lesson 
with these words, and continued to do so until every 
word had .been spelled correctly by every member of 
the class. The whole process takes the pupil twenty 
minutes each day."^ 

* Christopher A. Green: "Methods of Teaching Spelling," American 
Institute of Instruction Lectures, 1851, p. i8i. 



DEVICES IN WORD STUDY 143 

10 Spelling by Dictation 

"For four or five years, spelling has been taught 
from 2 A to 4A, solely by dictation. Tests have been 
made in two 4A classes. In each one, the children 
were placed in two sections: one composed of those 
who had been taught to spell by dictation for a year 
or more; the other of those who had been taught 
to spell by dictation for less than a year. The aver- 
age result of the former group was 90 %, while in the 
case of the latter group, the result was only 80%. 
The method of dictation gives practice in such words 
as there, which, very, those, etc. When we write, 
we write in sentences and there seems to be no need 
for children to write vv^ords in columns. It is an 
unnatural arrangement and does not give sufficient 
practice in the spelling of small words. It would 
be as sensible to teach children to read columns of 
words daily, and have readers in their hands but 
once a week, as it is to teach children to spell columns 
of words, and conduct dictation but once a week." i 

1 1 Meaning and Use 

The method pursued by the writer has been to 
supply the children with the necessary definitions and 
illustrative sentences. Briefly the method has been 
as follows: 

* Kate Van Wagenen. 



144 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

After the reading lessons for the following week 
have been chosen by the teacher, a selection is made 
of the words that require special study. These 
form the list of meaning and use words for the week. 
The next step is to compose a simple but compre- 
hensive definition of each word. This done, the 
illustrative sentence is next in order. These two 
should give the pupil a good working knowledge of 
each word. With the aid of a hektograph the teacher 
has been able to furnish the pupils on each Monday 
morning of the term a list of the words for the week, 
together with definitions and illustrative sentences. 
Thus week after week a word book is built up 
which is always at the service of the pupils. 

The illustrative sentences have proved very valu- 
able, not only because they have thrown additional 
light upon the meanings of words, but also for the 
assistance they have given the pupils as guides in 
the construction of original sentences. With them at 
his command he seldom makes the foolish blunders 
so common in this subject. If we want children to 
furnish sentences it is only fair that we should furnish 
them with a model. We do it in composition; why 
not in the study of words ? 

The relation of the reading lesson to word study 
as a result of the above outlined method is worthy 
of a few words. The teacher has been careful to 



DEVICES IN WORD STUDY 145 

arrange the word list so that words shall come up 
for consideration before the reading lesson from 
which they were chosen and on the same day. The 
pupils have not been told that the words were chosen 
from the reading lesson, and for two reasons. In 
the first place, it is a great delight to the pupils to 
discover the words they have been discussing and 
using earlier in the day. Again, the apparent dis- 
covery serves to indicate that these words are words 
in common use. Consequently the pupil is on the 
look-out to find the same word in other quarters. 
Thus there is aroused a genuine interest in the study 
of words, and what would seem to be a dry and 
uninteresting topic has had ''breathed into it the 
breath of Hfe." The reading lesson, too, has been 
the gainer, for it has been cleared of many of its 
difficulties, and more time is left for actual reading. 

Specimen List 

(i) Melancholy — Extremely sad and down- 
hearted. "A melancholy story"— ''His mother's 
death made him melancholy. " "A melancholy life. " 

(2) Phenomenon — (a) An unusual happening 
or fact. "A child bom with six toes is a phe- 
nomenon." "Samson had phenomenal strength." 
(b) Something causing surprise or wonder. " Me- 
teors are natural phenomena. " 



t46 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

(3) Irresolution — Lack or want of firmness of 
purpose. Lack of the power of deciding what to do. 
"Irresolution during a fire may cause the loss of many 
lives. " " The defeat was caused by the GeneraPs irres- 
olution. " "An irresolute man lacks the nerve to act." 

(4) Relinquish — To give up using or having. 
"He relinquished the stolen goods." "He relin- 
quished his hold on the oar and sank." 

(5) Surplus — That which remains beyond what 
has been used or needed. "Surplus wealth" — 
"After paying his debts there was a surplus." 

(6) Incredulous — Not disposed to believe. 
"When the clerk said that the money had been 
stolen, his employer was incredulous." 

(7) Appropriate — Suitable for the purpose or occa- 
sion. "The General was buried with appropriate 
honors, and the President made an appropriate 
speech." 

(8) Embarrass — To put in a confused and 
disturbed state of mind. " He was much embarrassed 
when called upon for a speech." "His embarrass- 
ment caused him to stutter and stammer." 

(9) Opportunity — A favorable chance. A fit 
or convenient time. "The government furnishes 
us all with an opportunity to learn." "He had an 
opportunity to make money." "It was the opportu- 
nity he was looking for." 



DEVICES IN WORD STUDY i47 

(lo) Eternity— (a) Endless time. ^'Washing- 
ton's fame will live through eternity." (b) Un- 
ending life beyond the present. ''In a moment it 
exploded and fifty lives were hurled into eternity." 

(ii) Indulge — To give in (usually unwisely) 
to the wishes or desires of oneself or another. "To 
indulge a child." "To indulge in strong drink." 
"Indulgence in opium." 

(12) Maintain — (a) To support. Provide for. 
"To maintain a family." "Orphan asylums are 
maintained by charity." (b) To support by argu- 
ment. "England maintained her right to tax the 

colonists." 

(13) Superior — (a) Of higher rank. More ex- 
cellent. Finer or better than the others. "He 
saluted his superior officer." "The enemy were 
superior in number." "A superior article." (b) 
A person higher in rank than another or others. 
"The General is the superior of the Colonel." "He 
was his superior in knowledge." 

(14) Injerior — (Opposite of superior.) 

(15) Menace — (a) To threaten with evil. "He 
menaced his enemy with death." (b) Anything 
that threatens with evil. "He laughed at his enemy's 
menace." "The swamp was a m.enace to the health 

of the people living nearby." 

— A Brooklyn Principal 



IX 

Summary of Word Study 

I Word Analysis and Synthesis 

The mere memorizing of the meanings of prefixes, 
suffixes, and stems is a dull and profitless perform- 
ance. Drill in the use of these elements is absolutely 
essential if we hope to interest the pupil permanently 
in the study of words. Suppose we assume that in- 
terest, rather than knowledge, is our goal in this 
form of word study. This will be a sensitive test of 
the value of our method. 

As soon as the interest flags, we shall know that 
something has gone wrong in our teaching. We 
shall be constantly on the lookout for interesting 
material and helpful devices. In other words, the 
beginning of wisdom here is interest on the teacher's 
part. Seek ye first this chief good, and all other 
things shall be added unto you. 

Create in the pupil a need for the new knowledge, 

and he will take pains to satisfy his desire. The 

reading of such books as "Trench on the Study of 
148 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 149 

Words" and Richard Grant White's "Words and 
Their Uses" is pretty sure to beget interest on the 
teacher's part and to open up a rich mine of resources 
for classroom use. 

(i) Analysis Suppose we take the word Capi- 
tal as used in geography. We find that the word is 
made from caput, the head, and al, pertaining to. 
The word means literally, pertaining to the head. 
The head is the seat of mental power, the chief part 
of the body; hence the usual applications of the word 
are based on this idea of chief power or authority. 
Thus, we have capital city, capital letter, capital pun- 
ishment, capital play, capital in business, making 
capital of the candidate's bad record. 

Lessons in word analysis may be assigned in the 
following form : 

Beneficent 

The pupil is expected to find the parts of which the 
word is composed and to infer the literal meaning of 
the compound. He may then find figurative applica- 
tions of the word and illustrate each use by an appro- 
priate sentence of his own construction or selection. 

(2) Synthesis Reversing the process, we may 
have an exercise like the following : 

in 

alien 
able 



I50 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

The pupil will tell the meaning of the parts and 
form the compound, then infer the literal meaning of 
the word, and proceed from this to the metaphorical 
uses. The study of the Declaration of Independence 
in the higher grades furnishes an occasion for the study 
of this word. 

2 Choice of Words 

The items suggested in the summary on pages 
1 62-1 71, under the head of ^Xhoice of Words," are 
not meant to be exhaustive or mandatory. The topic 
is brought forward for the sole purpose of reminding 
the teacher that something of the sort must be done 
if we expect the speech of children to rise above the 
commonplace and to become adequate for the cor- 
rect and forceful expression of thought and feeling. 

During a recent examination of a package of com- 
positions written by seventh-grade children, the 
writer selected at random for careful reading an 
essay which had been written by a girl of thirteen. 
The paper contained a description of natural scenery. 
The child had used the word ''lovely" three times 
on a single page in referring to a landscape, and had 
employed "nice" to describe the sky. These im- 
portant words had been passed by the teacher without 
correction or comment. He had not felt the need of 
guiding children in the choice of words. 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 151 

Probably the best way to suggest to young writers 
the importance of using the right word is to present 
correct models. The class referred to above would 
have profited by the careful study of a passage like 
the following: 

" A few amber clouds floated in the sky, without a breath of air to 
move them. The horizon was of a fine, golden tint, changing 
gradually into a pure apple-green, and from that into the deep-blue 
of the midheaven." ^ 

The right word is the specific word, rather than the 
general. The specific word in description or narra- 
tive is usually the concrete word. Witness the follow- 
ing account of the meeting of Abraham's servant 
with Rebekah (Genesis xxiv): 

" And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well 
of water at the time of the evening, even the time when women go 
out to draw water. And she said. Drink my lord; and she hasted 
and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink." 

For further suggestions on the right use of words 
see the author's ^^Composition in the Elementary 
School" (A. S. Barnes & Co.), pp. 41, 42. 

^ Washington Irving. 



152 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 

3 Diacritical Marks 

The names of marks used should be taught in each 
grade. Not all the marks used by Webster are given 
in the summary on pages 1 62-1 71. Grades 6A-8B 
should teach such additional marks as an intelligent 
use of the dictionary may require. 

There are two ways of conducting drills in dia- 
critics. In one, the teacher writes or pronounces a 
word and the pupil inserts the necessary marks to 
indicate the pronunciation. In the other, the teacher 
marks an unfamiliar or difficult word and the pupil 
pronounces the same in accordance with the marking. 
When a pupil in his reading mispronounces a word, 
the latter method should usually be employed. The 
word arctic is mispronounced by probably half the 
children in the elementary schools. It is one of the 
clearest evidences of the general neglect of phonics 
as applied to pronunciation. 

4 Use of Dictionary 

Drills in the correct and rapid use of the dictionary 
as an authority on the meaning and pronunciation of 
words should be conducted in the sixth, seventh, and 
eighth years. Many devices may be employed to 
stimulate interest. Lessons may be organized as 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 153 

games, in which the test is to find a given word in the 
shortest time, or to find the largest number of words 
in a given time. Pupils should have individual dic- 
tionaries from the beginning of the sixth year; and 
they should early acquire the dictionary habit. 



154 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



5 Bibliography 

1 The Hygiene and Psychology of SpeUing. Wm. H. Burnham, 

Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 13, p. 474. 

2 Method in Education, by R. N. Roark. American Book Com- 

pany, 1899. 

3 Is Spelling a Lost Art? By Wm. E. Mead, Educational Review, 

Vol. 19, p. 49- 

4 Constitutional Bad Spellers. Adelaide E. Wyckoff, Pedagogical 

Seminary, Vol. 2, p. 448. 

5 Dr. F. W. Smedley: Report of the Department of Child Study 

and Pedagogic Investigation, Chicago Public Schools. Child 
Study Report, No. 3. 

6 Spelling: Mr. H. E. Kratz: "Studies and Observations in the 

School-Room." Educational Publishing Company, Boston, 
1907. 

7 Edward R. Shaw on Spelling: Three Studies in Education. 

E. L. Kellogg & Co., New York, 1899 (pamphlet). 

8 Experiments on Spelling: Miss E. K. Carmen, Teachers College 

Record, p. 87. Columbia University Press, New York, May, 
1910. For same study, see Journal of Pedagogy, October, 
1900. 

9 Spelling in the Elementary School, by Oliver B. Comman. Ginn 

& Company, Boston, 1902. The most noteworthy scientific 
investigation of spelling made in this country to date. 

10 Individual Differences in Spelling. "The Principles of Teach- 

ing, " by E. L. Thorndyke. A. G. Seiler, New York, 1906. 

11 Bagley: The Educative Process, p. 123. Macmillan, 1905. The 

Spelling Drill. 

12 E. N. Kendall: Report on Spelling in New Haven Schools. Edu- 

cational Review, Vol. 14, p. 409. 

13 Judd: Genetic Psychology for Teachers, p. 262. Appleton, New 

York, 1903. See "Spelling" in Index, 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 155 

14 English Lessons for English People. Edwin A. Abbott and 

J. R. Seeley, London, 1883. (On Definition.) 

15 Dexter & Garlick's Psychology in the Schoolroom. Longmans, 

1898. (On Definition, p. 148.) 

16 Bain's Education as a Science. Chapter on "Our Mother 

Tongue, " for Meaning of Words. 

17 Hall's Contents of Children's Minds. E. L. Kellogg & Co., 

1893. Meaning of Words. 

18 "How Words Get Content": Studies in Education. Earl 

Barnes, Vol. 2, p. 43. 

19 "How Words Get Meaning." Chambers, Pedagogical Sem- 

inary, Vol. II, p. 30. 

20 On Meaning and Use of Words. Albert Shiels, School Work, 

New York, Vol. i, p. 35. 

21 Children's Definitions, by Joseph S. Taylor, Educational Foun- 

dations. Vol. 18, p. 126. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. 

22 Dictation Day by Day. Kate Van WageneUo Macmillan, 

New York, 1909. 



156 



ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



6 Alphabetical List of Prefixes, Suffixes, and Stems 

for Reference 

(i) Prefixes 

a (Eng. ) = at; in; on; or adds be (Eng. ) = hy; about; over; 

force. 
a (Lat. ) See ab or ad. 

^ ?■ = without; not. 
an j ' 

ab (Lat. ) 

abs y = from. 




twice, 
down, 
around. 



y = to.^ 
am 
ap 
ar 
as 
at 

ambi (Lat.) 
amb 
am 3 

amphi (Gr. ) =both; around. 
ana (Gr. ) = up; back; through. 
ante (Lat. ) = before. 



= around. 



to make; or adds force 
bi (Lat.)) , , . 
bis [ = ^'^''' ^"^^ 

cata (Gr. ) ) 
cat J 

circum (Lat. ) ") 
circu J 

con (Lat. ) ^ 
cum I 

CO ! = with; together; 

col j wholly.^ 

com 

cor J 

contra (Lat.) ") 
contro V = against. 

counter ) 

de (Lat. ) = down. 
dia (Gr. ) = through. 
dis (Lat. ) ) _ 
di [- 

dif ) 



apart; not; op- 
posite act.^ 



^ \ == twice; two. 



dys (Gr. ) = bad; ill. 
ant j "" (Against; opposite. ®^^ ^^- ^'^ j 

apo (Gr. ) I f 
ap '1 = /^^. 



e£ 
ez 



= out of; from. 



* The last letter of the prefix is often modified by the first letter of the 
root. Thus, the word affix consists of ad and fix ; but the d in ad be- 
comes /. 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 



157 



} 



en (Eng.) 

em 

en (Gr.) 

em 

epi (G 

ep 

en (Gr.) 

ev 

extra (Lat. ) 

for (Eng.) = 

fore (Eng.) = 

hyper (Gr. ) = 

hypo (Gr. ) = 

in (Lat.)^ 

il 

im 

ir 

inter (Lat.) 

intro (Lat.) 

meta (Gr.) ) 

met 3 

mis (Eng.) = 

mono (Gr. ) 

non (Lat.) = 

ob (Lat.) 

o 

oc 

of 

op 



= in; on; to make. 



vn: on. 



upon. 



well; good. 

= beyond. 

not; from. 
= before. 
= over; beyond. 
= under. 

= in; on. 

=*■ not. 

= between. 
= within. 

= beyond; change. 

= wrong; wrongly. 
= alone. 
= not. 

= in front; in the 
way; against.'^ 



off (Eng.) = 
out (Eng.) = 
over (Eng. ) 
para (Gr. ) | 
par 3 

per (Lat.) = 



from. 
= beyond. 
= above. 
= side by side; 

unlike, 
through; thor- 
oughly; by. 



y = for; forth. 



poly (Gr. ) = many. 

post (Lat. ) = after. 

pre (Lat. ) = before. 

pro (Lat.) 

pur 

pro (Gr. ) = before. 

re (Lat. ) = back or again. 

retro (Lat. ) = backward. 

se (Lat.) = aside. 

semi (Lat.) = half. 

sine (Lat. ) = without. 

sub (Lat.) 

sue 

8Uf 
8Ug 
8Up 
BUS 

subter (Lat. ) = under. 

super (Lat.) 

sur 

syn (Gr. ) ' 

sy 

syl 

sym 

to (Eng. ) = the; this. 

trans (Lat. ) 1 = over; beyond; 

tra 3 through. 

tri (Lat., Gr. ) = three; thrice. 

ultra (Lat.) = beyond. 

un (Eng. ) = not ( in adjectives 

and nouns ). 
un (Eng.) = opposite act {in 

verbs. ) 
under (Eng.) = beneath. 
vice (Lat. ) = instead of. 
with (Eng. ) = against; from. 



" = under. '^ 



[ = above; 



over. 



> = with; together. 



* See note on ad. 



158 



ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



(2) Suffixes 



aceous (Lat.) 
acious 



al 



an 



able (Lat.) ") = able to be; fit to 
ible ?- be; causing {used 

ble ) to form adj.) 

ac (Gr. ) = pertaining to (adj.) 

I = having the 
y quality of: full 
) of (adj.).^ 
acy (I^at. ) = state or quality of 

being (nouns). 
age (French) = state of being; 

act of; that which; a collec- 
tion of (nouns). 
(Lat.) = pertaining to; the 

act of (adj.; n. ). 

(Lat. ) = pertaining to; one 

who (adj.;n.). 
ance (Lat. ) | = state of being; 
ancy j act of (n. ). 

ant (Lat. ) = See ent. 
ar (Lat. ) = pertaining to (adj. ). 
ar (n). Seeer (n.). 
ard (Eng. ) one who (n.). 
ary (Lat.) = belonging to; one 

who; place where (adj.; n. ). 
ate (Lat. ) = one who; to make; 

having (adj.; n.; verb). 
ble. See able. 

oU(Lat.)) ;i„;, („) 

cule j ^ 

dom (Eng.) = state of being; 

domain of (n. ). 
ed (Eng. ) = past tense and past 

participle (v.). 
ee (Fr. ) = one to whom (n. ). 
eer (Fr. ) | _ 
ier 



— V 

i 



ery (Eng.) 
ry 



one who (n,). 



en (Eng. ) = made of; to make; 
past participle; little (adj.; 
v.;n.). 

ence (Lat. ) ) = state of being 

ency J (n.). 

ent (Lat.) = one who or that which; 
being or ing (adj.; n. ). 

er (Eng. ) = one who or that 
which (n.). 

er (Eng. ) = more = compara- 
tive degree (adj. ). 

== place where; state 
of beirtg; collection; 
} art of (n. ). 

escence (Lat. ) = state of be- 
coming (n. ). 

escent (Lat. ) = becoming (adj. ) 

ess (Fr. ) = female (n. ). 

est (Eng. ) == most, superlative 
degree (adj. ). 

ette (Fr. ) = little (n. ). 

ful (Eng. ) = full of; causing 
(adj.). 

fy (Lat. ) = to make (v. ). 

hood (Eng. = state or quality of 
being (n.). 

ible. See able. 

ic (Ut.,Gr.)l = fff"'"^ ''■ 
. . ' ^ > made of; one who 

''^^ } (adj.). 

ics (Gr. ) ] . i / X 

^ l ~ science of (w. ) 

id (Lat. ) = quality; pertaining 

to (adj. ). 
ie (Eng.) 



I =11 



little (n.). 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 



159 



ier. See eer. 

ile (Lat. ) = able to be; relating 

to (adj.). 
ine (Lat. ) = belonging to. 
ing (Eng. ) = the act; containing 

{n.; v.; .adj.). 
ion (Lat.) = act of; state of 

being (n.). 
ise (Gr. ) )= to make; to give 
ize J (v.). 

ish (Eng.) = somewhat; like; 

to make (adj.; v.). 
ism (Gr. ) = state of being; 

doctrine (n.). 
ist (Gr. ) = one who (n. ). 
ite (Lat. ) = one who is; being 

{adj.;n.). 
ity (Lat. ) 1 = state or quality of 
ty J being (n.). 

ive (Lat.) = one who; that which; 
having power or quality {n.; 
adj. ). 
ix (Lat. = female (n. ). 
ize. See ise. 
kin (Eng. ) = little (n. ). 
less (Eng. ) = without (adj. ) 
let (Eng. ) = little {n. ). 
ling (Eng. ) = little {n. ). 
ly (Eng. ) = like; manner (adj.; 

adv. ). 
ment (Lat.) = state of being; 

act of; that which (n.). 
mony (Lat.) = state of being; 

that which (n.). 
ness (Eng.) = state or quality 
of being (n,). 



s (Eng.) 
es 



ock (Eng. ) = little (n. ). 

or (Lat. ) = one who; that which 

(n.). 
ory (Lat.) = relating to: place 
where; thing which (adj.; 
n.) 
ose (Lat. ) ) = full of; having 
ous J (adj.). 

pie (Lat. ) = fold (adj. ). 
ry. See ery. 

= plural of nouns; 
third person singu- 
lar of verbs (n.;v.). 

^ ^ ^S- >> f _ possessive case. 

ship (Eng. ) = state of; office of 

(n.). ^ 
sion. See ion. 
some (Eng. ) = full of; causing 

(adj. ). 
ster (Eng. ) = one who (n. ). 
th (Eng. ) = state of being (n. ). 
tion See ion. 

tude (Lat. ) = state of being (n.). 
ty. See ity. 
ule (Lat. ) = little (n. ). 
ulent (Lat. ) = full of (adj. ). 
ure (Lat.) = state or act of; 

that which (n.). 
ward (Eng. ) 1 = direction f 
wards j (adv. ). 

wise (Eng. ) = manner (adv. ). 
y (Eng.). Seeze (n.). 
y (Eng.) full of; having (adj.). 
y (Lat.; Gr. ) = state of being 
in.). 



i6o 



ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



(3) Latin Stems 



). See agere, 
aequus (equ, equal, iqu), equal; 

just, 
agere (act, B,g),to do; to drive. 
alienus {d^tG.)^ another; stranger. 
anima (anim), life. 
animus (anim ), mmc^. 
annus (ann, annu, enn), a year. 
bene, well. 
cadere (cad, cas, cid, cide), to 

fall. 
capere (cap, capt, ceive, cept, 

cip ), to take. 
caput (capit, cipit ), the head. 
(cas ). See cadere. 
cedere (ced, cede, ceed, cess), to 

go; to yield. 
(ceive, cept ). See capere. 
(cid). ^ee cadere. 
(cip). See capere. 
(cipit). See caput. 
clamare (claim, clamat), to cry 

out; to call. 
claudere (clud, elude, clus), 

to shut. 
credere (cred, credit), to believe. 
currere (cur, curr, curs ), to run. 
dicere (diet ), to say. 
dignus (dign), worthy. 
ducere (due, duce, duct ), to lead. 
(enn). See annus. 
(equ). See aequus. 
facere (£ac, fact, feas, feet, fie), 

to do; to make. 
felix (felic ), happy. 
ferre (fer, lat), to bear; to carry. 



(fie). See facere. 
fluere (flu, fluct, flux ), to flow. 
forma (form), a shape; a form. 
frangere (frang, fract, fring), to 

break. 
fundere (fund, fus, fuse), to 

pour. 
gradi, (grad, grade, gress), to step; 

to walk. 
haerere (her, hes ), to stick. 
(iqu ). See aequus. 
ire (it), to go. 
(lat). See ferre. 
litera Qiiei), a letter. 
loqui (loqu, locut ), to speak. 
magnus (m&gn), great. 
manus (man, manu ), the hand. 
mergere (merg, mers), to dip; 

to plunge. 
migrare (migr, migrat ), to wan- 
der; to remove. 
mittere (mit, miss ), to send. 
pars (part, parti ), a part. 
ponere (■poii.,^osit), to place. 
potens (potent ), powerful. 
scandere (scend, scens ), to climb. 
scribere (scrib, scribe, script), 

to write. 
secare (sect ), to cut. 
sedere (sed, sess, sid ), to sit. 
specere | (spect, spic ), to look; 
orspicere ) to see. 

spirare (spir, spire, spirat), to 

breathe; to blow. 
(tain). Seetenere. 
tempus (%empoI)^ time. 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 



i6i 



endere (tend, tens, tent), to 

stretch. 
tenere (tain, ten, tent, tin), to 

hold. 
(tent ) . See tender e and tenere. 
(tin). See tenere. 



trahere (tract ), to draw. 
tribuere (tribut), to allot \ to 

give. 
verbum {\%ih)y aword. 
vertere (vert, vers ), to turn. 
vocare (voc, vocat ), to call. 



(4) Greek Stems 



alpha = -first letter in Greek 

alphabet. 
anthropos = a man. 
arctos = a hear. 
aristos = noblest; best. 
astron = a star. 
autos = one^sself. 
beta = second letter in Greek 

alphabet. 
biblos = a book. 
bios = life. 
cristos = anointed {Christ, 

Christmas). 
elites = a judge. 
demos = the people. 
drama = a play. 
ge = the earth. 
genea = generation; birth. 



grapho == to write. 

gymos = naked {gymnasium). 

horos = a boundary. 

hydor = water. 

logos = reason; discourse; science. 

mechanao = to contrive; to in- 
vent. 

melos = a song. 

odos = a road or way {exodus). 

opto = to see. 

orthos = erect; straight {or- 
thography). 

pathos = feeling. 

philos = a lover. 

polis = a city. 

Sophia = wisdom. 

telos = the end; distance. 

theatnim = a theatre. 



i62 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 





I A 


Spelling 

Standard List 
Miscellaneous List 




Meaning and Use 






Prefixes 




1 
o 


Suffixes 




«5 1 
o 


Stems 




£ 


Analysis and Synthesis 




Diacritical Marks from Web- 
ster's Dictionary 




Use of Dictionary 




Choice of Words 




Figures and Allusions 





SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 



163 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY — Continued 



iB 



2 A 



2B 



Incidental 



150 



200 



In the first three years the words used are taken chiefly from 
the child's oral vocabulary. 


























For the first three years the marks taught and the order of the 
same depend upon the system of reading employed. 





















i64 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



SUMMARY OF WORD ST\]T>Y — Continued 





3A 


Spelling 

Standard List 
Miscellaneous List 


200 


Meaning and Use 


See Preceding Grades 


1 


Prefixes 




1 

VM 

o 


Suffixes 




^ 1 
.2 


Stems 




^ 


Analysis and Synthesis 




Diacritical Marks from Web- 
ster's Dictionary 


See Preceding Grades 


Use of Dictionary 




Choice of Words 


Drill on correct use of is, are, 
was, were, has, have 


Figures and Allusions 





SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY i6. 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY — Coiainued 



3B 


4A 


250 


150 
150 




All 
















1 




ale, arm, all, am, eve, end, 
Tee, 111, old, Odd, use, tip 






Forms of do, see, come, go, 
plurals of nouns 


Forms of irregular verbs and 
plurals of nouns 







i66 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



SUMMARY OF WORD ^TVTtY— Continued 





4B 


Spelling 

Standard List 
Miscellaneous List 


150 
150 


Meaning and Use 


All 


f. 


Prefixes 




1 

o 


Suffixes 




.2 


Stems 




^ 


Analysis and Synthesis 




Diacritical Marks from Web- 
ster's Dictionary 


Review 4 A, care, ask, fern, 
orb, rude, full 


Use of Dictionary 




Choice of Words 


Special drill on forms of is, 
have, do, see, come, go 


Figures and Allusions 





SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 



167 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY — Continued 



5A 


SB 


175 
175 


175 
175 


All 


All 




a, be, en (em), for, fore, mis, 
out 





One who does — an, ant, ent, 
ar, er, or, ard, ary, eer, ier, 
ist, ive, ster 




Selected and related to words 
whose meaning is taught 




See p. 148 


Review 4 A and 4 B, senate, 
event, idea, 5bey, anite 


Review 4 A, 4 B, s A, urn, pity , 
food, foot, out, oil 



In the fourth and fifth years children should be taught how 
to find a word in the teacher's dictionary 



Choice of adjectives used in 
description 



Agreement of verb and sub- 
ject, irregular verbs, prepo- 
sitions 



i68 



ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



SUMMARY OF WORD ST\JT>Y— Continued 



6 A 



Spelling 

Standard List 
Miscellaneous List 



200 
200 



Meaning and Use 



All 



I 



Q 



O 
(3^ 



Prefixes 



Suffixes 



Stems 



Analysis and Synthesis 



Review 5B: over, to, un, un- 
der, with, ab (abs), ad 



Review 5B: One who is; 
one to whom — ate, ee, ite, ive 
Place where — ary, ery, ory 



Selected and related to words 
whose meaning is taught 



See p. 148 



Diacritical Marks from Web- 
ster's Dictionary 



All 

For directions, see p. 152 



Use of Dictionary 



See p. 152 



Choice of Words 



Drill on irregular verbs, prepo- 
sitions, relative pronouns 



Figures and Allusions 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 



169 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY — Continued 



6B 


7A 


200 
200 


225 
225 


All 


All 


Review 5B, 6A: ante, bi (bis), 
circum, con, contra, de, dis 


Review 5B, 6A, 6B: ex, extra, 
in, inter, non, ob, per 


Review 5B, 6A: State, quality, 
act — 2icy, age, al, ance, 
ancy, dom, ence, ency, hood. 


Review 5B-6B, State, quality, 
act — ing, ion, ment, ism, 
mony, ness, ty, ity 


See preceding grades 


See preceding grades 


See p. 148 


See p. 148 


All 

See p. 152 


All 
See p. 152 


See p. 152 


See p. 152 


Choice of verbs. 
Possessive forms 


Precision 
Simplicity 




Simile 



I70 ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY 



SUMMARY OF WORD STVTtY— Continued 





7B 


Spelling 

Standard List 
Miscellaneous List 


225 
225 


Meaning and Use 


All 


CO 

'2 


Prefixes 


Review 5B to 7A: post, pre, 
pro, re, retro, se, semi 


1 

o 


Sufiixes 


Review 5B to 7A: Diminu- 
tives: cle, cule, ie or y, kin, 
en, let, ling, ock, ule, ette 


C5 1 

3 


Stems 


Selected and related to words 
whose meaning is taught 


£ 


Analysis and Synthesis 

v.. 


See p. 148 


Diacritical Marks from Web- 
ster's Dictionary 


See p. 152 


Use of Dictionary 


See p. 152 


Choice of Words 


Precision 
Simplicity 


Figures and Allusions 


Metaphor 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY 



171 



SUMMARY OF WORD STUDY — Continued 





8 A 


8B 




250 
250 


250 

250 







All 


All 


Review 5B to 7B: sub, super, 
trans, ultra, vice, a (an), 
amphi, ana, anti 


Review 5B to SA: apo, cata? 
epi, hyper, hypo, meta, sym 


Review 5B to 7B: al, ary, ic, 
ical, ine, ory, ful, ous, able, 
ible, ble, ish 


Review 5B to 8A: less, ant, 
ent, ate, en, ise, ize, ly, ern, 
ward 


See preceding grades 


See preceding grades 


See p. 148 


See p. 148 


See p. 152 


See p. 152 


See p. 152 


See p. 152 


Precision 
Simplicity 


Precision 
Simplicity 


Personification 


Review 



Index 



Abbott, Edwin A 92, i55 

Abbreviations ^4 

Alden, Abner, quoted 2 

Accent ^° 

Alphabet, Origin of 19 

Analysis of spelling errors . . 46 

— of words 148 

Articulation 3 

Authors, practice of in spell- 46 
ing 

Bagley, William C i54 

Bain, Alexander . . .45j i^^, 155 
Barnes, Earl . .99» ii7> 125, 155 
Berlin investigation on 

words 9^ 

Bibliography of Word Study 154 

Blucher ^5 

Bumham, William H. 43» ^54 

Campbell, William A 70 

Capitalization 13 

— in spelling lists 13 

Carpet-bagger "8 

Carmen, Miss E. K. ..41, i54 
Chambers, Will Grant 

104, 117, 155 
Characteristic errors of 

pronunciation 9 

Children's definitions 129 

Children's sentences 13° 



Choice of words 150 

Combination of senses in 

spelling 69 

Committee of Fifteen 88 

Committee of Ten 79 

Compounds 17 

Conclusions on spelling ... 54 

Concrete words 151 

Connected discourse in spell- 
ing 69 

Consonants 4 

— classified 5 

Constitutional bad spellers . 154 
Contents of children's 

minds 97 

Context, use of, in teaching 

meaning of words 115 

Contractions i4 

Conventional value of spell- 



ing 



28 



Copying method of spelling 34,68 
Copyists, effect on spelling . 21 
Comman, Oliver P 43> ^54 

Deductive methods of teach- 
ing meaning of words ... 120 

—-definition 123 

— ^prefixes and suffixes ..120 

— synonyms 125 

Definition, illustration of .. 93 

— nature of 92 

173 



174 



INDEX 



Definitions, children's. 129, 131 
— learning useless .. 102,128 

— ^words not to define 106 

— ^what words to define . . 108 
— ^not to be copied 127 

Derivation of words 67 

Devices of word study . 132, 147 

—trapping 132 

— a modern substitute for 

trapping 133 

— spelling in 1851 136 

— names of common 

things 136 

— logomachy 137 

— calling attention to 

parts 137 

— drill on words often mis- 
pronounced 138 

— spelling 139 

— meaning 142 

— spelling by dictation .. 143 
— meaning and use ..... 143 

Dexter and Garlick 93 

Diacritical marks 11 

— list of 12, 152 

Dictation day by day 155 

Dictionary, effect on spell- 
ing 22 

— habit ^z 

Dramatization for meaning 
of words 119 

Drill in spelling 78 

— on words often mis- 
pronounced 138 

Dutton, Samuel T 130 

Educational value of spell- 
ing 27 



Elizabeth, Queen 25 

English spelling arbitrary . . 65 

Enunciation 3 

Errors of spelling analyzed . 46 

Euphonic analogy 98 

Every lesson a spelling les- 
son 82 

Fifteen -minute test 44 

Figurative meanings 126 

Frederick the Great 25 

Function of words 89 

Graded list of prefixes and 

suffixes 122 

Green, Christopher A. 

24, 136, 142 

Greek stems 161 

Grimm, Jacob 21 

Hall, G. Stanley 97, 155 

Hard and soft consonants . . 4 

Homonyms 71 

Howell, James 89 

How words get meaning ... 96 

Huxley, Thomas H 91 

Hygiene of spelling 154 

Imitation in pronunciation 6 

Incidental spelling 79 

Individual differences in 

spelling 77 

Inductive method of finding 

meaning of words 92 

— in teaching meaning of 
words 113 

James, William 91 



INDEX 



175 



Johnson, Samuel, his dic- 
tionary 22 

Johnston, Emma L 121 

Judd, Charles H 89, 154 

Kendall, C.N 86,154 

Knowledge- teaching, rela- 
tion to language- teach- 
ing 95 

Kratz, H. E 2>^, 154 

Language-teaching and 

knowledge-teaching 95 

Latin stems, list of 160 

Lay, W. A 32 

Lisping 10 

Logomachy 137 

Lowell, James Russell 90 

Mead, William, E. ... 26, 154 
Meaning and use of words . 89 
— how words get meaning 96 
— various studies on .96-104 
—summary of conclusions 104 
— methodsof teaching II i-i 31 
— when should formal 

study begin ? 115 

— use of context 115 

— use of story and pic- 
ture 117, 118 

— use of memorizing 116 

— use of dramatization . . 119 

— deductive method 120 

— figurative and poetic .. 126 

— device 145 

Memorizing poetry for 

meaning of words 116 

— definitions 127 



Method in Education, 

Roark 154 

Method of Spelling: 

— principles 65 

— preparation 67 

Motor idea in spelling 55, 56, 68 

Names of common things . 136 
Natural method of teaching 

meaning of words 113 

Nature of spelling 18 

New York, spelling in 88 

Norman Conquest, effect 

on spelling 20 

Northwest School 45, 75 

Origin of alphabet 19 

Petrel 119 

Phonetic words to be spelled 

first 65 

Phonic analysis 7 

Pictures, to teach meaning 

of words 117 

Plurals 16 

Possessives 16 

Prefixes and suffixes 120 

— graded list essential .. 122 

— classification 123 

— list of 156 

Printing, invention of, effect 

on spelling 22 

Pronunciation i, 65, 138 

— how to teach foreigners 7 

— characteristic errors of 9 

— important in spelling . . 34 

Propositions, thirty, on spell- 
ing 54 

Psychology of spelling 29, 154 



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